


A Little Bent

by The_Night_Owl



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Blood and Gore, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Horror, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 03:23:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 33
Words: 48,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12950250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Night_Owl/pseuds/The_Night_Owl
Summary: Your long-term best friend had decided with your best interests at heart, that you should meet with a very old friend of his. Of course you objected, but you could never seem to win a fight against the darn mother-hen. So, you reluctantly indulge his request to travel away from the comfort of what you know, to the old age of adventures and mysteries of SillyVision Studios.How much of a mistake will this decision turn out to be? how much do you really know about your friend, and how much do you really know about yourself?





	1. New places

You gripped the letter tightly in your hands, the bitter evening wind threatening to rip it from your fingers and into the night. Standing at the door of a decrepit looking building creaking softly under the strain of its own weight.  
   The letter you held to your chest had been delivered to your friend Henry just over a week ago now, apparently his old colleague from his early animating days had invited him over to see something he had been working on recently, but staring at the rickety place in front of you had you wondering how anyone could possibly do anything at all here but catch a nasty cold. Regardless of this, Henry had asked you to go in his stead, insisting that meeting a new face would bring a nice change from your usual routine of hiding away in your room, when you had asked why you both couldn’t just go together, he had claimed that he just couldn’t bring himself to face the lost nostalgia of his younger years.  
    Taking a deep breath, you knocked tentatively at the splintered old door, and then squeaked in surprise as it flew open with a bang loud enough to wake the whole town. Oh, how you wished you were still at home. Mustering what little courage you had, you stepped into the unknown building, peering around cautiously for Henry’s friend.  
     A long hallway stretched before you, forking just beyond your line of sight in the gloom. Although the floorspace was sparsely furnished, the walls held a meager supply of posters scattered here and there. Each and every one adorned with eternal smiling faces plastered onto the paper.  
   New places sent your anxiety into a spin, well, any place that wasn’t home did in all honesty, such a timid thing you were. The uncertainty and lack of familiarity sent your nerves into overdrive, the staring and attention made your flesh crawl in discomfort.  
    The building appeared empty at first glance, it was dark and cold, like the inhabitants had never heard of a magical thing called central heating.  
      The walls had a definitive scent of musk that clung damply to everything in sight, leaving the air feeling wet and stale. Shuffling over to the light switch on the wall was probably a good decision on your part, as when the hallways flooded with light, a very friendly- familiar face, greeted you.    
    Henry had always told you about how he had once worked on the older cartoons in his younger years, before he worked with you that is. You could remember the first time he had excitedly introduced you to the screen filled with chipper music and slapstick adventures of whacky characters, how you had been drawn to the confident grin and easy going attitude of Bendy the dancing demon and his wise yet goofy best friend Boris.  
     You figured that your friendship with Henry has been largely built on the discovery of his older works, the two of you had bonded over the enthusiastic face of the mischievous duo and the rest had just seemed to fall into place fairly quickly. Henry taking almost a brotherly role in your lonely life.  
    It was only when you toppled over the cardboard cut-out of this character that you suddenly realised that diving face first into a stranger- cut-out or not, was likely not the politest way to greet your idol. After a few seconds of only a little bit of extreme regret of your own choices in life, you heaved yourself to your feet, pulling the impostor up with you, snickering silently to yourself as you set it back into its original position.  
     Continuing to steadily make your way through the building with a new sense of curious delight, inspecting all of the relics from the old days of animation. Poking at bits and bobs littering seemingly abandoned desks and worktops and sniffing at the expensive looking ink bottles and quickly regretting that decision when you sneezed and sent it spilling over the side. The newly stained floor now had a very tangy smell of pitch black ink, the pool of which was seeping through the floorboards and dripping onto surfaces unknown deep below. Oops. Maybe nobody will notice?  
     You were slightly baffled that after exploring the entire place you couldn’t find anyone. At all. In fact this was probably the emptiest building you’ve ever had the pleasure to explore albeit initially against your will.  
    Suddenly, a shrill ringing noise sounded in the silence, startling you into fumbling for the source of the noise frantically. It was your phone, which you rarely used at all, with your only contact being Henry, who you barely ever left out of earshot. After a moment of pressing all the buttons you could see, you finally managed to get the darn thing to accept the incoming call and brought the phone to your ear, “Shade! How are you doing? Did you find your way to the studio alright?” Henry’s cheerful voice blared through the speaker. You gave a very unamused huff in response “ah-yes, right, you uh…c-can’t…talk.” He babbled nervously, a sense of guilt itching its way into his tone “W-well not to worry! That’s what texting is for!” he finished awkwardly and a bleep signaled the call ending.  
    “so, how is everything going?” sent by Henry at 12:45pm  
“nobody here, can I come home now?” sent by Shade at 12:46pm  
“empty? Are you sure? You are at the right place, right?” sent by Henry at 12:46pm  
“yes, nobody is here” sent by Shade at 12:47pm  
“huh, not like ol’ Drew to leave a person hanging, I’ll drive over now to save you the trip then” sent by Henry at 12:47pm  
    You sighed as you stuffed the phone away into your bag. As fun as it was to explore the place that brought your heroes to life, you really didn’t see yourself leaving the house for another few years after this wasted rip. Try as your best friend might, you just weren’t an adventurous person. Looking up to leave, you spotted a rusted tin can of a machine tucked away in the corner of the room out of the corner of your eye.  
       To say it looked old would be a huge understatement, what little parts of the thing not covered in decay where seeping with…ink? ‘Strange’ you thought. Pressing your fingers against its rough, scratchy surface revealed it to be set very firmly in place, this pleased you, comforting to know that moving in its general area wouldn’t bring the entire room down with it. Then you spied the huge On/Off button screwed onto its side.  
    Now, you watched enough movies with your animator buddy to know the only acceptable thing to do, in the presence of such a large button, is to press it.  
   A quick poke and the machine spluttered to life and the walls shuddered as something flowed through the pipes in the ceiling, and your reaction to this had been to press yourself hard up against the farthest side of the wall until you were practically one with it. A heart stopping slurping noise echoed in a far-off room and you quickly decided that the idea of a stroll in the cold wind was a grand idea.  
    Quickly making your way to the exit and doing your best to ignore the ever-growing sploshing noises echoing in your ears, you turned a corner sharply, and made the mistake to glance towards a door that had been poorly boarded up on your sweep of the building. There, peering menacingly through the cracks, was a deathly white face covered in oozing black rot.


	2. Escape plans

Turning heel and running had been the only action you could think of in that moment, and it took very little hesitation on your part to do so. You threw your scrawny body forwards at a speed you never thought your legs could carry you, your momentum so strong that one misstep or wobble would sent you headfirst into the ground. The thumping of your feet pounded loudly over the creaking floorboards that threatened to snap under your boots.  
     Strangely enough, you couldn’t hear any tell-tale noises of your pursuit. In fact, if it weren’t for the mind-numbing terror of whatever had risen from behind that door, you would have doubted anything was following you at all.  
      As you pulled a sharp left around the last corner, you grasped at the wall in a hasty attempt to steady yourself, something sharp tore at your flesh and you winced at the stinging sensation spreading its way down your palm. The sting quickly took second place in your mind once you spotted the exit sign, faintly glowing a husky red above the flimsy doors that might as well have been the pearly gates themselves as you huffed in relief.  
       Right there, at the far end of the hall, was safety. It was so very close! Just a little bit further and you would be safe, you would meet up with Henry and you would both go home. You would put on your favourite slippers and force him to watch a marathon of every series he hated, and you would laugh because it was all his fault you were running for dear life right now.  
      Halfway through the corridor, you made two of the worst decisions of your life. Firstly, you glanced behind you. This is when you saw that just meters behind you, a blackness was erratically speeding towards you. Something bobbed just under the surface of the torrent of black, like a shark hunting for its next meal.  
      Your second, and probably your worst mistake, was to then continue running along the fresh, sturdy looking wooden planks. A striking contrast to the surrounding wood that could have disintegrated if you stared at them too hard.  
      The second the sole of your foot made contact with the freshly lain planks, you felt your internal organs sink to the bottom of your torso as you dropped like a rock. The ground beneath you vanishing to reveal a deep, terrifyingly dark pit that stretched far below the building.  
     As you plummeted below the earth, you snatched wildly at the walls, fingers finding no purchase and the scratching doing little more than rip your fingertips to bloody shreds. After falling the height of what felt like the Eiffel tower, yet you sincerely hoped was a lot shorter, you slammed hard onto the bottom.  
    In the split second your legs made contact with the ground, you heard a sickening snap as you felt your tibia split in two and your patella splinter from the impact, sending shockwaves of white hot agony through up through your spine. It wasn’t over though, as your torso still hadn’t caught up. When it did, your spine flattened flush against the floorboards and the back of your head landed with a dull thud.  
     You barely even registered that you had closed your eyes until you opened them again, the opening where you had fallen through seemed so bright, a white that burned your retinas as it gradually game into focus.  
   Your movements felt sluggish as you heaved yourself into a sitting position. If you had thought the pain consuming your leg had been awful before, then god forbid moving it was torture. You could feel the splintered edges of your mangles bones scraping against inflamed nerve ending and tearing against flesh. A tortured groan rumbled in your throat as you continued to pull yourself up.  
    As much as this hurt. If you stayed put, you would die here. by whatever had chased you or by dehydration, whichever came first. Neither sounded very appealing, so when you finally managed to balance yourself on your better leg, you where drenched in blood and sweat.  
    You had been dropped into a room, however you couldn’t pick out anything other than the fact that the room was bigger than you as you were essentially blind in the gloom.  
     You didn’t have many options, you could stay put and pray that Henry comes to rescue you, only he could be hours away, and who knew how long he would take to get to your meeting place, if he would even think to look here before you where mauled to death by that monster upstairs. You could walk around in the dark and hope that you eventually make your way to some path up above, but you were very deep below the earth, and who knew how many more secret floors this place had that where shrouded in the nebulous void.  
      There was no chance you would be able to make that trip. Not without a torch or any source of light. So, sighing heavily and already regretting what you were about to do, you pulled yourself up the side of the wall, using your arms and legs to heave yourself to the opening on the ceiling.  
  You braced your arms against the sides in parallel, and then firmly planted your back against the wall behind you. Hastily removing your leg from underneath you, you slammed it into the far side directly across from your spine, using the friction of your body wedged into the tight space to keep you suspended in the air.  
    Your aching body was already trembling with the strain, every movement felt shaky as though your muscles had been replaced with tissue paper. Shuffling upwards sent tremors to your freshly broken leg and you sniffled as you panted roughly through your mouth. The air down here was gritty and wet with mold and stale, the smell of damp clinging to the entire room.  
     After ten minutes, you were ready to drop and you were barely a quarter of the way up, your fingers stung as though the walls where made of wasps, and your muscled screamed as tendons tightened painfully, your overworked limbs begging for oxygen your lungs just weren’t fast enough to provide.  
   Suddenly, a heavy scraping sound reverberated throughout the framework, you could feel the tingling vibrations of a heavy object being dragged along the floor in your spine and through your arms. Gasping, that this wasn’t you sounded high up above you in the otherwise silent building. Then the scraping noise stopped, and a shadow danced across your body as something solid fell, knocking you down like a ragdoll and this time, as the floor came to meet you, you let yourself fade into the black.


	3. Meeting heroes

You felt unnaturally heavy, almost as though you were wearing a suit of lead in place of your flesh, a heavy material dragging you down even if you could not possibly sink any further. Piecing your mind together in thought felt like swimming in a vat of treacle- which you've never actually done, but you imagine it would be difficult.   
       Every time you tried to swipe away the fog in your mind, whenever you felt close to snapping out of the mess in your body, a throbbing pain would slam into your senses like a wave and force you back into the recesses of your mind. It all felt dreamlike, but you weren't asleep, or at least you weren't anymore, but the cotton in your brain made your limbs feel sluggish and you couldn't bring yourself to open your tired eyes.  
      Breathing was about all you could do right now, and as you took a deep breath through your nose, the smell of ink tickled at your senses. suddenly, something gripped your shoulders tight in a harsh hold, jerking you upright as your captor let out an animalistic snarl. You groaned in your throat as the movement set your injuries ablaze and whatever was holding you stopped dead. you were dropped as though you were made of acid and you finally managed to crack your eyelids open. Something about the atmosphere felt different, less like you were being hunted, the tension in the air had snapped and broken away, you would have been relieved- but the sight of the monster behind your eyelids was still there, you were with a ticking bomb just waiting to explode at the slightest move. So you didn't move. You froze in place right were you had been dropped as you stared up at the black mass towering over your small frame.  
     What you saw didn't give you any comfort, as you didn't see much of anything other than a shadow just far enough into the darkness that you couldn't see clearly, but close enough to the light spilling from the ceiling to spot a form circling you carefully. Their quiet footsteps were so faint that you could have mistaken them for the sound of you eyelids blinking.  
     "Who are you?" a soft voice asked, it was searching- measured, but it wasn't the vicious growl from a few seconds ago. That was good, right? "answer me" it hissed and you realised you hadn't responded, instead staring at the figure before you in contemplation. Quickly bringing a trembling hand to your throat, you made a sweeping motion as you shook your head.  
     See, for as long as you could remember, you had been mute. As far as Henry could tell, there was nothing physically wrong to stop you from producing sound, as you would make small noises in the back of your throat on occasion. He had tried for years to teach you to how to turn those small sounds into speech, heck- you had tried for god knows how long to force words pass your lips, but it never seems to work, instead swallowing the motions down again in frustration. Poor Henry had always blamed himself for it, promising to find a way to fix you and working tirelessly in his workshop to find the problem that just didn't seem to want to be found. You had given up a long time ago, instead learning sign language in an effort to offer Henry some small level of comfort. It wasn't his fault, he didn't make you like this on purpose.  
     The figure before you cocked it's head to the side, apparently baffled by this new predicament you both found yourselves in, fumbling with you hands, you waved to reclaim its attention.  
"Can you understand this?" you asked with practiced motions, fingers moving effortlessly as you spoke through movement. To no avail. The creature flinched at your sudden movement- which seemed to further confuse the creature and it slowly shook its head. After a moment of quiet, the figure shot out of the room, you heard a door burst open somewhere off to your right and rapid footsteps scurry off to another room nearby, sounds of draws and cabinets being ripped open in a hurry and papers being scattered carelessly about what must now be a mess of a room.  
    More footsteps followed, and soon the figure had returned, standing before you, holding a pair of large, gloved hands carrying a pen and a crumpled notepad towards you expectantly. As you took them, you felt your mouth drop open in shock, your fingers lingered on the white material of your memories. Standing in front of you, mouth fixed into a wide grin, was Bendy the Dancing Demon.  
   Your idol was standing right before your eyes, now three dimensional and furrowing his brows at you as you continued to gape at him. This is when you threw away all dignity as you let out a high pitched squeal of delight and the stars in your eyes practically lit up the room. Bouncing slightly as you tore open the pad and began to scribble so fast you almost set the paper alight, when you had finished you spun the pad around and held it up to his perplexed face.  
     "Bendy! I can't believe it's you!" the paper read and the little demons eyes shone a little as he seemed to deflate, his tense posture relaxing considerably as his grin shifted into a more natural expression, "You uhh, still haven't answered my question there pal" he reminded you in a casually chipper tone, and you were quick to comply "My name is Jade" you said, refusing to acknowledge Henry's silly nickname's existence for the time being. You felt all sorts of jittery as you took the opportunity to really study him, you noticed that he was surprisingly tall, as you stood eye level with his chin, while on screen he had always seemed so...small? You had always pictured him to be about your height, which was nothing to write home about and in fact often got on your nerves as you often clambered over several oddly placed stools to get at whatever was out of reach back home.  
      He had very thin arms that fit into large gloved that seemed to function just like flesh since he seemed to have no trouble with feeling past the crisp material, and the vast majority of his body was a black deeper than the night sky, excluding the white of his face which almost resembles a heart with the black framing the sides of his head to the tips of his horns, which curved like a crescent moon on his head. Hid tail curled upwards and swayed slightly as he rocked on his feet, apparently determined to not remain still in place.  
      He turned away from you and began leisurely making his way towards where you assumed the door was, "Well Miss, I think it's high time ya tell me what the heck you're doin' in this old place, follow me".


	4. A helping hand

It took a fair while, but you eventually found yourself back to the ground floor, you had been slowly lead through the empty maze that Bendy had kindly restored power to shortly after he noticed your injuries. He seemed to take delight in having someone around to talk to, although initially disheartened by your inability to speak. Though even if you had, you wouldn't have had a chance of getting a word in edgeways as he spoke himself hoarse, as though he had been saving up the words for years. Although you didn't stray much from the apparent path you were taking, Bendy insisted that he explain the history and purpose of every knick-knack that crossed your path, although you suspected he did this to give you time to catch up as you flailed around the building, trying not to fall face-first onto the ground as you stumbled over the broken planks of wood strewn about everywhere.  
    The building itself was densely populated with Bendy cut-outs like the one you had encountered upstairs, something about them felt sinister, like they were watching your every move and you put you on edge. There was also ink everywhere- dripping through from the ceiling and pooling into hallways and leaving splotches of the stuff soaking the floor, the fumes shooting up your nose and making you feel nauseous, though it didn't seem to bother Bendy as much as it did you, you figured he must be used to it by now.  
    Circular markings scattered low around the walls caught your eye as you listened to Bendy's ravings about the recording studio, and you turned to find what looked like a small shrine tucked away in the corner. At first glance they seemed just that- circles, but upon closer inspection they looked more like an alter for some sort of cult. a very small flame adorning a candle stump flickered in the non-existent breeze. How...odd, you thought.  
     Before you could contemplate this any further however, your foot caught the end of your injured legs boot, and the momentary shift of weight disrupted your balance, sending you tumbling to meet the floor. Yet you didn't fall. Or rather you didn't get the chance to meet the ground, as a pair of arms snatched you from the air by your armpits and held you upright, toes barely touching the ground.   
    "Y'know it takes real skill to fall over your own feet" Bendy snickers teasingly as your face flushes with embarrassment, suddenly finding the crumpled up paper on the desk beside you fascinating. Back home you had your fair share of 'oops' moments which may or may not be the reason you no longer owned any breakable objects. In fact Henry had even went so far to replace all of the glass mugs and cups in the home with plastic versions in varying bright neon colours- one of which you had stepped on the very same day he had bought them and crushed into oblivion. To this day Henry still gave you grief about it.  
    It had been that moment when the devil holding you decided to hoist you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes with relative ease and began a brisk stride towards a staircase to your left, deciding in your stead that the trip would be much more enjoyable if you spent it mortified while dangling upside down. In reality it seemed that the fiend had just grown inpatient to reach the surface.  
       The ground floor was much brighter than the dusky, haunting complex in your very recent memory. The walls seemed more open and airy, the world from outside seeping inside, cleansing the smell of decay from your nostrils in the draughty space. As you passed the corridor where your personal taxi had first appeared in all his terrifying glory, you noticed that one of the previously blocked off rooms on the far side to your left had been knocked down, with scuffing marks from something obviously heavy trailing in halting tracks all the way down to the large you-shaped hole in the floor. For a split-second you almost thought you saw a figure laying spread across what looked like a slab smack centre of the room. Blinking the image out of your mind, you instead switched your attention to the tail dangling just out of reach. It danced from left to right, back and forth mesmerizingly, and your eyes grew large and cat-like as you began to stretch out your hand towards the wonderful newly discovered toy in your vision.  
      Just as you were about to grasp at it, its owner kneeled to set you down, saving him from an unexpected surprise on his part, with a surprising gentleness that you wouldn't have expected from the creature in front of you, with such a record for mischief, though this signaled that the little adventure of yours was over, and now came the time for questions. The toon settled himself on top of the worktop sitting in the small office you found yourself in, propping his feet up on a rickety old chair with a soft sigh.  
       "So now we're a little more comfortable, mind not leaving me in the dark here and tellin' me what the idea was comin' here? This place ain't open to the public y'know" he challenged with a chuckle that suggested he really couldn't care less that you had seemingly trespassed in his studio. A few scribbles later and you held up your notepad for his inspection.  
    "My friend Henry was invited here, but he told me to come instead" was displayed as you rooted around your pockets for the letter, eventually finding it and offering it to the toon. Something flickered across his face as you watched for his response, but it was gone far too quickly for you to make any sense of it, but something didn't feel right about it. Internally shrugging it off, you pulled up a small stool laying on it's side across from you and cautiously set yourself down onto it. Perhaps you had just imagined it.


	5. Through a demons eyes

When you had first heard the doors unused for so long creak open, you had expected The creator to come striding back inside with all the confidence in the world and hat under arm, ready to get back to 'work' after his long absence. You could practically feel your inky flesh crawling with anxiety and disgust rolled into one. The man that had caused so much suffering had dared to show his face to the place he had abandoned weeks ago, in search of something from his lonely ramblings deep down in the dregs of the building. One day he had just up and left after scrambling wildly about the building, his eyes wide and bulging, stuffing anything he deemed important into a handheld case and racing out of the doors without a second glance.  
       You had stood at the door for days afterwards, wondering what it is what you should do next while the tyrant was away, or if he expected you to just sit tight and wait for the hell that was your life to continue. Without any answer in sight, you searched the fog of your mind, staring into the void. It stared back.  
       So needless to say when the footsteps of an unidentified person began echoing throughout the studio, and no other candidate you could think of, your mind fell to dark places, dread replacing the relief of their absence. You couldn't let things go back, you were trapped and isolated, but you couldn't take the torture on top of that too. Moving your stiff body took an unbelievable amount of effort, non-existent muscles screaming in rigid protest against the movement it wasn't built for. You needed a new body, something that you could move fluidly in- something you could escape in. You could grab Boris from wherever he was hiding and you would both get out of this hellhole that had once been home. Then it hit you- ink! The one thing you had power over, the thing that The Creator had so firmly deprived you of, was your ticket out of this mess.  
    Shuffling your body in one direction was the simple part, the difficult part being making your way through to the Ink Machine without the gift of sight. This body seeming more and more inconvenient as desperate frustration bubbled through your brain. Suddenly, there was the sound of a sharp intake of breath, then rapid pounding heading straight for you. Panic instantly consumed you as you had been spotted and you wanted nothing more than to turn and flee, but this form was slow, and blind, leaving you defenseless to the assault you knew was coming.  
      Then you were flying backwards as something soft slammed into you with the force of a torpedo, and both of you tumbled down to the floor with a thud. Fear was replaced with anger very quickly when a soft snickering noise filled the hallway. Obviously oh so smug for capturing an 'unmoving' body of cardboard that you had been confined to. So happy to be served their favourite victim on an easy self-serving platter. Asshole.  
    
     You could feel yourself being picked up in a clumsy grip as they stood, but unfortunately for you, they didn't set you back down, instead carrying you with them. Eager as ever to begin I see, you mused. However something was strange, you could feel yourself being carried off in various directions, but you knew this place, better than the back of your hand, and you knew for a fact that you where both still on the ground floor. Why would they take such a winding route? This wasn't like them.  
     Then, to your surprise, you were set down suspiciously gently, and the footsteps wandered off in the direction of the ink matching room far to the right. This is my chance!, you thought to yourself as you used your desperate energy to shuffle yourself into an poorly boarded up room. The adrenaline that didn't exist in you caused your emotions to fizzle into your consciousness, unchecked and running wild.  
    Minutes ticked by slowly, and you began to feel triumphant in your escape, though this hiding place wouldn't last long, you still felt somewhat safe. You could still hear the movements in the distance, muffled by the decaying wood that made up the skeleton of the building. Part of you felt morbidly curios about what they could be planning, as they had never acted this way before, at least not since the early days of your life, but those sweet memories where long gone, and a heavy new reality easily laid that old happiness to rest for good.  
     A clanging noise resounded throughout the building at something inside you snapped. That noise was familiar, and also, ironically enough, a god-sent. The fool had turned the machine on once more. Seeping through the corroded and mislaid pipes, ink poured from the ceiling and pooled at your cardboard feet. A body just waiting to be formed in the rich, thick liquid. As you plunged yourself into it, you could feel the sensations long dead to you bursting to life, the indescribable feeling of your heartbeat pumping inky blood into your newly grown fingers was exhilarating after being trapped in nothingness for so long could have left you weeping in relief right there and then. It felt so good to be alive again.  
      Taking a few moments to feel the muscles flex in your hands, relishing at the opportunity to enjoy movement once more, you nearly didn't notice the terrified gasp from behind you...but you did. Snapping your head in the direction of the only entrance, you could make out a figure sprinting away from you through the swirling liquid still trying to form your face. With zero hesitation, you allowed your body to drop back into the puddle, not trusting your new legs to hold you as you gave chase as a torrent of black.  
     As you steadily gained speed, you could hear their movements become more and more erratic, and at one point you absently noticed the faint smell of blood and...ink?

   Now, as a demon, cartoon or not, there were still...'advantages' that the title granted you, much thanks to your tormentors filthy little hobbies. Being reborn certainly helped to develop your abilities once more, you felt powerful like you hadn't felt in years, so as you saw the glowing exit sign up ahead, you quickly willed for the ink-drenched wood bordering the hallway to vanish, instead replacing the void with an illusion of strong, solid ground. Even you had your limits, you had been lucky that the pipeworks had been so bad here, allowing the velvety black substance to fill the floor below as a mirage.  
     The trap worked like a charm, and you watched the figure disappear into the hole you had created, making no noise apart from the sharp noise of impact as their body collided with the ground deep below, falling through the ceiling of one of the rooms far into the complex. Victory was glorious, but you knew you wouldn't be able to rest until you saw their body. Cold and dead.  
      By this point, you felt pretty confident in forming a body once more, knowing you had all the time in the world to refine your movement and enjoy the feeling of your lungs expanding as you inhaled deeply, even the sour air felt luxurious and silky against the flesh inside your chest. Carefully, you made your way towards The Creators workspace that he kept on the ground floor, stumbling a little as you adjusted to the new weight of your internal organs and flesh. The room had been sealed off by them before they had left, the only order having been to stay away from it, but you had seen them carrying dangerous-looking tools in and out every once in a while, often followed by questionable noises that you preferred to keep to the back of your mind. That was, until now. You were free now, those restrictions held no power anymore.  
     Stealing a nervous breath, you pushed yourself through the cracks of the wood, feeling very uncomfortable as your solid body was pushed through what felt like what could have been a tea strainer as far as you were concerned. Once safely settled onto the other side, you scanned the room with your eye like a surveillance camera as you searched for the familiar worn red toolbox hidden beneath the ever-present ink coating much of the room. You found much more than just that. Spread across a thick metal slab held suspended by solid iron cables just inched above the inky pool beneath, was the cartoon that filled your happy memories. Boris was strapped tightly to the table, the bindings digging into his limbs so harshly that had he been awake he would have been barely able to breathe. But he couldn't be awake. He would never wake up again, as a what had once been his chest was now an empty chasm lining vertically down his torso, his organs had been methodically removed, the cavity cleaned of every scrap of viscera he has to offer.  
     The air in your lungs collapsed as your lurched forwards, body unable to cope with the intense shock to your mind as your body wracked with sobs as you emptied the contents of your stomach, bile rising in your throat and choking the hysteric breaths your lungs demanded you take, like your body was trying to force the knowledge of your dear friends fate out of your gaping mouth. Spindly arms wobbling to keep you upright as your legs caved in on themselves much like your world as it fell around you, slipping in the mess of ink and internal fluids. Boris, your best friend- your brother, lay cold and long dead feet in front of you as your agonised wails filled the silence.


	6. Surprises

It seemed like an eternity had passed until you finally managed to pull yourself heavily to your feet, still sniveling pathetically, taking deep hiccuping breaths, eyes never leaving Boris' corpse. You felt breathless, no matter how deeply you inhaled the musty air of a room that should have never been unveiled, and something deep inside you was sinking to a somewhere it would never be found again. Once on your feet, you clumsily approached the table, reaching a trembling hand towards your friends forehead, which glistened with the sweat of his suffering still after years of his death. What had stunned you the most, not that he had been brutally mutilated in death, but that you had never known. Not even a gut feeling that something had been wrong, and the years of hope for finally reuniting with such a precious comrade had been mercilessly crushed in a single instant without a hint of a warning.  
    Your fingers ghosted his jawline as you gently cupped his face in your hand, dark fur soft and velvety against your gloves, pressing your forehead against his own, tears dripping onto his lifeless eyes shining white and staring hollowly at the ceiling as you mourned for your loss, and a great loss it was. You could feel yourself falling apart, cracking under the pressure. Today's victory now a gaping void, Joey had ultimately won the war. It was all fast becoming too much.  
    Then, something in your mind just...snapped into place, as deep below your feet, you could hear something clawing it's way upwards, ragged breaths now drilling into your skull. It seemed that this wasn't over, and as your face twisted with rage, you hoped it wouldn't be over for a long, long while. After all, you were a demon at the end of the day, and seeing as you were already In hell, why not make sure you deserve being here?  
     Quickly flitting to you ingeniously placed trap, you peered over the corner, being careful to keep your head low and out of sight, and it was very amusing to see a figure messily making its way up the vertical drop, using the power of friction to stop itself from tumbling back down to the bottom. In fact, you were almost impressed at how far they had already come, as the figures left leg was dangling below them, bending at an unnatural angle and apparently very painfully broken based on the whimpering that could have been music to your ears at this point. There was no mercy left in your heart for this man anymore.  
     It was at this moment, a brilliant idea struck you, and you turned towards your least favourite room. You had, at one point, spied a small and bulky safe tucked to the side of a set of drawers towards the left of the room, shuddering as you looked pointedly away from the large splatter covering the back portion of the room, and wrapped your arms around it's small frame, the cold of the small surface biting at your warm skin. Tugging at it, you quickly realised you were in no way by any leap of the imagination strong enough to lift it on your own. However, determined not to let this deter you, you hooked your fingers on its corners and threw all of your body in the opposite direction, feeling your lower back muscles clench as you dragged the object along the floor, the resulting screech of wood-on-metal making you wince. Boy this was heavy.  
     Using your hulk-like strength and many breaks with you hunched over with your hands on your knees to catch your breath, you eventually managed to drive the hunk of steel to the edge of the gaping crater, just teetering on it's rim. A morbid sense of glee fuelled your ear-splitting grin as you glanced down to see the progress of your new bowling pin, who looked to have almost given up on their fruitless venture, their shadowy form quaking from exhaustion. It almost made what you were about to do seem...cruel. Almost. And you felt very little guilt as you gave the capsule the small nudge it needed to finally drop over the side.  
     The crunching sounds you had expected never came, instead a dull smack and the knocking sounds of a body ricocheting between the wooden panels on it's way down. And it. Was. Glorious. It only got better too, as after a few moments of basking in the euphoria of what you had just done, a long, low groaning emitting from far below. Still alive.  
      Turning around so sharply you almost lost your footing and fell into the pit yourself, you raced down the corridor to the hidden stairwell and practically flew down the steps. Navigating the pitch-black maze like a madman as your feet barely touched the ground in your haste. You curled your body around the debris of the old studio without slowing your pace in the slightest, you felt like a kid on Christmas morning, eagerly rushing downstairs to their stack of wonderful new toys.  
     Skidding to a halt just short of reaching the room that you had stood over mere minutes ago, you quietly snuck towards the empty doorway, the door of which had long been taken off it's hinges. Stepping on the heels of your feet and rolling them flat in effort to stay absolutely silent. You could hear the tell-tale sounds of them stirring, the faint shuffling noises of someone trying and failing to move telling you that they still hadn't left. Rounding the corner as rapidly as you were able, you pounced on the unsuspecting victim fumbling about in the dark, allowing your gloved hands to grip their bony shoulders like a vice. Snatching the small body from the fatal position they had curled themselves into all in one quick motion.  
    Something was wrong. Very, horrifically wrong. Quivering in your hands, was a small, frail-looking creature, a creature that was most certainly not Joey. The figure appeared to be female, her eyes wide and unfocused, her disorientation evident as her eyes wandered blindly over your features. Her eyes too, were strange, inhuman, appearing almost button like as smooth, little black ovals. Her head was shaped oddly, as though a sack had been placed on her head, with two long pigtail-like growths sprouting from the back of her head, horns that strongly resembles a jesters hat. One side of her face was just as black as you, with the side opposite a crisp, clean white colour despite the dust and ink coating her soft looking cheeks, lips trembling and open in an inaudible squeak of terror.  
      In your gloved fingers, was a toon just as alive as you.


	7. Two toons

Bendy had seemed very interested in your relationship with Henry, and your feelings of uncertainty had been washed away just as soon as they had appeared, and now you felt completely at ease, if only your injuries didn't hurt so much- you would even consider yourself to be quite happy in this situation.  
     "Henry created me just shy of twenty-six years ago now" you explained, gesturing at yourself with your free hand. "He said that his friend had given him some special ink as a gift, and was really surprised when I appeared on his desk the next morning", and this was really the long and short of it- as far as you knew, as Henry had always skimmed over the matter, preferring to draw your attention to other things. You didn't mind, it didn't make much difference to you how you were created, just that you were.  
    The demon in front of you shifted in his seat, crossing one leg over the other and leisurely leaning backwards,  wearing a thoughtful expression. "You wouldn't be talking about Joey Drew now, would ya?" he asked, with a strange hint of bitterness to his tone, and you nodded by way of response, making a small noise of affirmation in your throat, not bothering to write such a short answer on with your sore fingers. He rolled his shoulders at this, as though shaking something off.  
      "Ya'see, Joey, he was uh, my creator- that is to say he made me, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say he had a hand in you too" he sighed, bringing a hand up to swipe down his face, however, you quickly shook your head at this. You had never met the man- or even so much as heard his name before just recently, only having heard that Henry had once had 'a partner' in passing, and you said as much. If you where completely honest though, at this point you were more concerned about your injury than Bendy's curiosity.   
     Forcing a huff of air through your nose in a distressed whine, you forced his attention to your leg, which had already swollen to double it's original size in the time you had broken it in several places, you had read enough books on biology to know that your leg shouldn't resemble a balloon. He seems to startle at the sight and jumped to his feet and moved to inspect your leg, kneeling at your feet, and you flinched slightly as fingers prodding at your tender flesh made contact, the muscles beneath your skin twitching to avoid the extra pressure.  
     "I hate to be rude, but could you help me with this, please? You did kind of knock me down a shaft, twice", and as you wrote, it occurred to you that as comedic as you made it sound, this was a lot more serious than you made it sound, and part of you was instantly furious at your treatment. He terrified you, chased you into a 40ft drop- granted you did run straight into it but still! Also, you think he dropped something onto you but that could have been the concussion. How you had survived was anybody's guess, and this reminded you why you had been so scared in the first place. He could have killed you.  
      To his credit, he did have the decency to look ashamed at this, curling in on himself sheepishly as he looked up at you awkwardly. Eyes wide boring  into yours like a puppy who had just torn up the sofa. "I almost forgot about that" he chuckled, clearing his throat nervously as he pulled back. How had this gone from fearing for your life, to dealing with another less-responsible Henry? At least Henry didn't try to kill you- you'd really have to ask about that, later, when you weren't preoccupied with the fiery pain spiking through your nerves. Who knew your idol would turn out to be such a nutcase? You learn something new every day.  
       "I have good news and bad news" he said, expression deadpan, and you returned it in full, bracing yourself mentally for whatever had brought such a serious tone from the man in front of you. Then he straightened abruptly, and posed- Freaking posed!- pointing dramatically to your leg which was sickeningly bent in several places, and said "That there is very broken".  
     Fighting the intense urge to facepalm hard enough to break your hand, you nodded to show you understood, encouraging him to continue with the good news, though if was as silly as what had just come out of his mouth, you didn't really want to hear it. "On the bright side, I might know how to patch you up"  
      Your feelings of relief were short lived, as you caught the "Maybe, probably" he had tried to disguise as a cough. Against your better judgment though, you decided to take him up on his offer, deciding that any help would be better than nothing.  
     So here you sat, back at a ninety-degree angle while you held the sides in a white-knuckle grip and very much regretting your life choices. Bendy had ran out of the room in a similar fashion as when he had gone to fetch your notepad, and had returned with two planks of study-looking wood, some thick rope and a can-do attitude. You didn't really like the look on that face of his, he was smiling just a little too brightly for it to mean anything good. "So, I need to set the bones before I can bind it up" ah, so that was why he was creeping up to you in plain sight.  
     Unfortunately, he was right, and you begrudgingly allowed him to approach you without kicking him in the face and hightailing it outta there. Without much of a warning other than a quickly mumbled 'sorry', he firmly gripped your leg and straightened it out with two well placed hands and the precision of a hawk swooping down to catch a field mouse. The pain, as you had expected, was awful, only you had deeply underestimated exactly how awful it would be, and your stomach lurched as you swallowed thickly, barely managing to keep the contents of your stomach from spewing all over your make-shift nurse. White dots swam in your vision as you clenched your jaw tightly, high pitched whimpers escaping as he worked, strapping your leg to the planks as a sad excuse for a splint with thick, rough rope holding it all together.  
      You didn't move for a while, even after he has finished, dealing with the aftershocks of pain still fizzling up and down your body like electricity. Bendy had taken to rubbing your back in soothing motions, cooing praising words to you in attempt to snap you out of your daze. That was pretty nice of him, you must admit, you were even beginning to feel a little better.  
        Offering him a weak smile, you forced your tense muscles to relax and Bendy himself just casually settled himself beside you, as though nothing had happened at all, with a satisfied hum.  
    Perhaps you would let him off a little easier later, when you ask him what the hell his idea of a normal greeting was.


	8. Getting comfortable

The two of you had just sat there for a while, basking in the calm after a really messed up day. A day that neither of you had expected but had happened nonetheless. You felt very tired, you could really do with your fluffy bed right now, and a nice mug of hot chocolate, and cream- can't forget the cream. Mmmm, you were salivating at just the thought.  
      "Henry will be here to pick me up soon" you said out of the blue, turning the page now filled with scribbles, suddenly realising that it must have been hours since you had last spoken to your animator friend. Had he noticed you weren't at the meeting place yet? Surely he must have reached town by now, right? Oh he must be so worried, he loved to fuss over you so, you can practically see him sprinting through the streets and screaming for you in a panic right now. Though the image did little to settle your worry for the old man.  
      The devil next to you startled slightly, the feet that had been swaying monotonously non-stop halting in their movements, and turned to face you properly with wide eyes. "He's comin' here?" he squeaked incredulously, excitement betrayed by the stars in his eyes, you figured he must have missed his old co-worker, and his joy was endearing to you, what can you say? It was just really sweet. Nodding, you tried to mirror his enthusiasm, "Yes, before you dropped me like a rock I called him to pick me up"  
      Bendy looked as though all his birthdays had come at once, "Huh...interesting, maybe I'll stick around to say hi" he murmured, then took a deep breath, and visibly calmed, returning to his neutral demeanour. The buzz forgotten. "Hey, you've seen my cartoons right? Where I dance and mess about with Boris? Do you have one?" he asked while inclining his head to you. The complete and very quick change of subject left you stunned for a moment, having been put on the spot so suddenly, and without thinking about it you nodded. It was true, you did have your own show, and despite your nature you were actually pretty proud of it.  
      Your ran a small time educational show for young children, teaching them the joys of the wide world they had yet to explore and understand, along with Henry. Since you lacked the gift of verbal communication, your friend had taken the role of narrator in your stead, using the voice rich and gravelly with experience and age to guide the audience along each lesson we could provide, often focusing on things that people just seemed to forget as they grew up.  
        Sometimes you wished that you could just jump into the screen yourself, but had instead settled for drawing yourself under Henrys careful tutorage in the art of animation. It felt strange to put yourself onto paper, allowing your hopes, dreams- your entire identity in a 2-D form separate from yourself, yet still the same.   
        "Huh, Henry always said he hated the idea of narrating back in the day" Bendy had said when you had told him about your pride and joy, but he seemed to enjoy 'listening' to your ravings about how you had first learned to draw, how you had bounded up to Henry to present your scrawls, so proud of your work. It had been a horse if memory served you right, although looking back at it could just as easily have been a bright red octopus, but nevertheless you still looked back at it fondly. Needless to say you had improved greatly over the years.  
         Regarding Henrys distaste in his new job, well, you had learned that the hard way. It had taken a long while to finally convince him to give it a shot, complaining that his 'old man voice' made him feel like his grandpa and how he didn't want to end up drinking prune juice just to end up going in his pants with an unlucky nurse dutifully taking care of him while silently praying for death- whether it be his or themselves. Huh, wonder where that came from, you decided you didn't really want to know.  
        "How did your show start anyway? Henry never said" you inquired hopefully, curiosity bubbling to the surface despite your best attempts at pushing it down. Besides, it was only fair after sharing your origins of sorts. Surely it couldn't be that bad a question to ask?  
      Apparently it was? Bendy shifted uncomfortably, fidgeting with his tail as he answered, "I was created after my uh, cartoon started airing. Me 'n' Boris both actually, afterwards we just kinda, here while everyone just kept going as usual". Kept going? Nobody had tried to involve them In their own show? You couldn't even imagine Henry doing something like that, it just seemed odd to- to treat them almost as if they weren't really there.  
       Your confusion must have been evident on your face, as Bendy chuckled a little "Kinda weird right? You'da thought someone would've...noticed." he trailed off, eyes vacant and the happy atmosphere just seemed to...slip away. There was meaning in that sentence that you just couldn't grasp. A lot of things he said and did didn't seem to fit, something was wrong, but you just couldn't see it, so you let it go once again. He just seemed so...so lonely.

       And as the Jester turned away with her eyebrows knitting together in concern, the demon smirked with eyes of pure malice, for a sinister plot was beginning to form in his mind.


	9. Mistakes were made

Feeling all too pleased with yourself on account of your nursing skills- marveling at how well you had handled the situation, you ended up suggesting the two of you watch something on the silver screen. You knew where the discs where kept, and you were fairly certain you could figure out how to use the projectors, it would be a good way to kill time, especially with your temporary partner being almost completely immobile. The jesters expression to this had almost been comical, her eyes lighting up and the open-mouthed smile accompanying it had drawn more than just a chuckle out of you. It felt good to bring that to a persons face again. Just a shame it wouldn't last very long.

     Her odd moments of anxiety hadn't gone unnoticed by you though, and every time it flashed across her features, you fought to put those anxieties to rest, wouldn't do well to scare her off now, she was far too convenient to lose, especially for something you could fix. It had once been your job to help people forget about their lives after all.

      It had been a real treat to have discovered their relation to Henry, of all people, and a down-right gift to have practically been spoon fed the traitor on a silver platter. It was perfect. And all you had to do, was wait, and you had done plenty of that- what was another day compared to the years you had endured? Nothing, that's what. You could be patient, you could wait. Good things come to those who wait after all, and you were positively itching to claim that prize. The mania inside of you just begging for it's long awaited release, the reward that you were clutching at with both hands like a single spiders thread being dangled into the depths of Hell. A tainted sort of salvation.

     Is this what going mad felt like? You wondered if this was a good thing or not, it sure didn't feel wrong. It felt like shrugging off the filth of the world, just the simple act of letting go, it was a rush of something akin to euphoria. You figured you were entitled this morbid justice.  
       Strolling through the tomb that was your home, you realized that you felt almost at peace. A numb, dull kind of relaxation that you couldn't have welcomed more, it was nice to not feel the ache of your tensed muscles taught with apprehension. The dusty halls were familiar, comforting, this place was yours now, it could be whatever you wanted, it didn't have to feel like a cage.  
      Rummaging through the storage bins yielded fruit very fast, as you had swiftly found all the tapes you could have wanted, of course all of them were cartoons from the studio, and you tried to find some that weren't just yours, not really comfortable with the idea of watching yourself, your narcissistic tendencies didn't reach quite that far, probably. Then you remembered your guests first reaction to meeting you, how they had launched themselves at you at top speed on first sight. Perhaps just a few episodes wouldn't hurt. Just a few, to be a good host of course. You would never admit that you were a teeny bit excited to see yourself on that screen.  
         On your trip back upstairs to the small projector room on the top floor where you had left the she-toon, it occurred to you that perhaps piling up everything you could carry in one go might have not been the best idea you had ever had. This was because halfway through your ascent, the mini mountain in your arms began to teeter to the side, and in an effort to regain control over its momentum you ended up losing your own balance too and falling backwards, sporadically flailing your arms as you went. All of the records flying into the air and raining down on the top of your head as you sat at the bottom rubbing your sore behind.  
     "Boy that smarts" you grumbled to no-one in particular. Pushing yourself up from your knee and straightening with a grunt. A quick scan of the floor showed that a couple of the records had cracked in a few places, spilling out the film once held inside. Luckily, the large majority of them had survived the fall, and you picked a few up, deciding it best to leave the rest behind, for your own safety and theirs, you would clean up the mess another time.  
       Making your way to the corner were the small screen room was kept, a very amusing sight greeted your eyes as you turned the corner, the triumphant grin on your face switching to one of sly amusement as the lady toon had decided to decorate her make-shift splint with small doodles of what looked like kittens, apparently oblivious to your presence as she made a small humming noise as she worked. You caught the smile on your face before it could form, she had done no wrong, she really was innocent in your eyes, but getting attached would do no good, not with what you were about to do.  
       Giving your head a little shake to force away the twinge of guilt creeping into your mind, you plastered a lazy grin onto your face and cleared your throat. "I got the tapes Kitten, hope ya don't mind-- uhh" your teasing tone cutting off as you quickly checked the labeling "A lot of me 'n' Boris apparently, some Alice too" you finished with a huff as you plopped yourself on one of the rickety old chairs set in small rows that filled the tiny floor-space.   
       Jade had jumped a little when you had first spoken, and the smirk that had graced your features earned a small scowl from the small woman hunched over her leg as her eyes snapped in your direction. You faintly wondered what kind of retort she would have given you if she could speak.  
       When it was evident that she had no intent on replying with anything other than an enthusiastic nod, you turned to set the projector up, fiddling with it until you managed to fix the reels to the machine, pointedly ignoring the giggling coming from behind you as you became increasingly flustered, the damn thing just wouldn't do what you wanted it to.  
    Before you could kick the shit out of the bucket of bolts, leg drawn back and ready to strike, a gentle tugging at your arm faltered your movements and you were softly nudged out of the way. After pressing a few buttons, the screen flickered to life, and Jade turned towards you, with a smug grin that left you feeling like you had lost at something as you quietly settled down to the chipper music of your memories.


	10. Staying the night

You had actually really enjoyed watching all of Bendy's shows again, having already watched them back as a child. It was interesting to delve back into your childhood, and you were slightly shocked to find moments play out in ways that conflicted with your own memory, bits and pieces that you couldn't remember at all, you had thought you knew them off by heart by now. Apparently not.  
      Another thing that piqued your interest was Bendy's own reactions, his eyes were almost glued to the screen, entranced by something he saw there, his eyes would latch onto Boris and himself at every movement, drinking in the sight like a bug drawn to light. There was a fondness in his eyes that made your chest feel warm, a softness that the little devil rarely seemed to display. He was such an impish fellow, someone you would never expect to even comprehend what 'being serious' was. Bordering on obnoxious but with enough charisma and charm that he could get away with it, this change made you rethink your views of the guy.  
     Then it occurred to you, maybe you didn't actually know him at all, sure you had watched every single episode ever released by SillyVision, but you were much different in your own show than in person. Forcing down your passive nature and adopting a calm, cool and collected persona. It was basic common sense to think that if you could do that, then maybe Bendy had a mask too. You decided to be more careful in the future.  
      After almost two solid hours of slapstick comedy and the absence of logic and the laws of physics in general, you felt your attention falter, eyes drooping shut against the screens bright glare. Apparently being knocked out cold for a number of hours didn't register as rest to your body. It was pretty late, you concluded, and stretched luxuriously in your seat, back and shoulders aching from the rigid right angled posture the back forced your spine into.                  Depending on exactly how reliable your maths skills were in your drowsy state, you had first stepped foot in the studio roughly around Thirty-two hours ago, and now it was just about dusk, though it was difficult to tell without access to any windows or natural light of any kind. That was an architectural that struck you as odd, but you didn't question it much, it was just different. Fresh air seemed like such a luxury. 

       At your movement, Bendy has turned his attention to you, he didn't seem all too tired, on the contrary he seemed wide awake. His eyes wide and alert, with a foot tapping along to the music quietly playing in the background as he regarded you with confusion. "Somethin' eatin' at ya?" he questioned, and you tapped at your wrist to indicate a watch that didn't exist.  
     "Uhh...wrist?" he offered, and you mentally slapped yourself. How did he not get that? Sure you wouldn't be winning any super-secret communication awards but really? Not wanting to appear rude to your host, you smiled brightly despite the sleepy irritation burning behind your eyelids and scrawled "it's pretty late, would it be alright if I hit the hay, please?". He uttered a low hum and stood, rolling his shoulders in their sockets, resulting in a faint clicking noise that Bendy shivered at, looks like his joints needed that.

      "Gee sorry about that, I was off in my own little world just now, we don't really have beds, but I know that the break room has a pretty neat couch you could kip on for the night" he suggested, and the thought of a decent nights rest you really couldn't have cared less what you slept on, so before he could say anything more you were nodding frantically, standing to attention immediately- or as quickly as you could whilst dozing on your feet.

      It turns out, putting one foot in front of the other can be a really hard thing to do with a badly broken leg and most of your basic motor functions off in dreamland, so when you walk-stumbles to where you hoped the door was, you actually ended up smacking right into it's frame. Only it was then you remembered that there hadn't't even been a door in the first place, just a large and very hard to miss opening- which you had just missed. That took skill. So you had essentially walked straight into solid wood.

     "Yeah, there's a wall there pal" Bendy chirped, his voice wobbling in barely restrained laughter. Glad someone finds my pain amusing, you thought to yourself,  too exhausted to comment on it further, instead you shot a weak glare his way and rubbed at your forehead grumpily. 

     When he had finished his silent laughing fit, he casually made his way over to you, making a point to step away from the wall that your face now knew intimately, and began strolling down the hallway in an unspoken request to follow. Which you did, albeit clumsily. And slowly, very slowly. In your defense your leg was shattered to hell and you were about ready to pass out on your feet so you thought you were doing rather well. Bendy did not.

       He sighed good naturedly and turned heel towards you, having been tapping his foot impatiently on the other end of the hallway, and turned his back to you, kneeling with his hands open, palms facing upwards. "You're too slow, hop on 'n' we'll get there real quick".

      You almost fell face first into him as you sagged in relief, unceremoniously flopping onto his back and winding your arms loosely around his shoulders in a lazy attempt to hold on. His footsteps were strong and confident, but not loud enough to jerk you out of your stupor, and you felt like you were both gliding across the floor. You really wished that you had been blessed with working vocal chords right at that moment, if only to say a muffled 'thank you' as you let your face press against the back of his neck. 

     He was warm, and for such a slender figure, he felt strong, you could feel the wiry muscles working beneath the skin under your fingers, but he wasn't uncomfortable. He felt like a huge, very firm teddy bear.

       In the back of your sleepy mind, you pictured the demon below you with big fluffy ears and a small poofy tail-nub, covered in fluffy brown fur. A disoriented giggle escaped your lips at the image of Bear-Bendy twirling around a honey pot like in that old movie Henry liked to watch when you were small.

       You only just registered the feeling of being lowered onto something soft, the warm thing you had been clinging too carefully pulling away from you, before your mind delved deeper into a deep and much needed sleep.          


	11. Going outside

Geez that lady could snore. You had barely set her down before her lungs began to try and regurgitate themselves. It was like sitting right next to a wood chipper that had been hooked up to a megaphone.  

     She had fallen asleep on you fairly quickly, having gotten herself quite comfortable on your back, she had been wriggling around, nudging placed that should not be nudged. At least not by someone you had just met, you swear you almost dropped her several times, you couldn't help it- s'not your fault you're ticklish.

      After settling her down carefully, being sure to avoid putting pressure on her broken leg, you had settled down yourself, curling up on the large, squishy armchair you had often seen one of the writers claim back in the day. You couldn't remember his last name, you just remembered people had always called him 'Sammy', he had written a lot of the music for your cartoons- and had been damn good at it too, but his personality had always been, at best, obnoxious. The man was a grade A narcissist of epic proportions, always putting his co-workers down whenever they had tried to take pride in their work.

    "It's just a stupid kids cartoon" he'd sneer, and would endlessly complain about people entering his office. As if they did it on purpose, if they had, I their way you were sure everyone would have avoided him like the plague, but his office just happened to be the office where the draining mechanism was located, so people would be in and out as fast as humanely possible to activate the pumping system, trying to drain the pools of ink from their hallways.

      You had always enjoyed watching his tantrums, and had always dreamed of socking the old prick in the kisser- just to take him down a notch. Better yet knock him off his high horse altogether.

        Snoozing wasn't something you were very fond of, the nightmares were god-awful, as anyone could imagine. 'Round the clock torture didn't just stop when it stopped, it's something that haunt your mind long after it had passed. 

     Regardless, you needed the energy, even if that energy was gained from a fitful sleep in the armchair of an asshole. So reluctantly, you closed your eyes, taking one last glance at the toon just across from you. Perhaps the company would scare the nightmares away.

 

 It didn't.

       Six hours later, you could faintly hear birdsong from the gaps of the creaking woodwork. The woman just across from you was still out cold, not having stirred in the slightest. Meanwhile you had tossed and turned on your tiny, sad excuse for a bed all night, praying for the ceiling to cave in on itself and knock you out as well. Of course, that didn't happen, and by the time Jade began to open her eyes, you had deep, dark bags under your eyes, almost making your grin look manic. Guess shut-eye wouldn't be something you'd indulge in tonight.

       Jade sat up slowly, groggily rubbing at her eyes, for a moment she looked around, confusion and panic briefly flashing across her face, until she seemed to realize where she was, and she turned to you with a sleepy smile. "Good morning" she scrawled, and you chuckled tiredly, putting as much energy into your voice as you could.

      "Mornin' Kit, how're ya feelin' today?", she seemed to consider it for a minute, before pressing her pencil back to her pad. "I'm fine, thank you, though I could do with some fresh air, it's stuffy in here" then she paused for a moment, before adding "How are you doing? You don't look too good".

     Shaking your head, you stood, making a point to add an extra bounce to your steps as you picked the sleepy lady out of her 'bed', she wasn't all too heavy, she weighed far less than you had initially expected, so you didn't really mind 'escorting' her here and there. Sure beat waiting for her to hobble around by herself.

     "I'm fine, slept like a log, lucky for you, i'm up for a bit of R'n'R in the sin myself" you chirped, hoping she wouldn't notice you Haydn't commented on her concerns. You were just too tired to lie to the girls face right now. Lucky for you, Lady Luck shined down on you in that moment, because other than a high pitched squeak from your sudden taxi service moment, she made no further attempt at conversation, apparently content to sit in companionable silence.

      It dawned on you very quickly what you were about to do. You were going outside. You had never been outside before. And holy frickafrack you were nervous. This had been your dream, yours and Boris's. This big step felt painfully bittersweet.

      Forcing yourself to take long, confident steps, you made a beeline for the front door. As far as Jade knew, you had done this plenty of times, she didn't need to know anything more, she didn't need to know the truth. Just act natural, you told yourself.

         Gulping, your heard pounding against your rib cage, you pushed open the door with your shoulder.

     It opened. With barely any pressure at all, it had just swung open. It had been that easy, this whole time, no dramatic climax, no heart stopping revelation of any kind. It just opened, the only thing showing any sign of resistance a high pitched creak as the rusted hinges whined at the friction.

       The breeze hit you first, the crisp, cold mornings air hitting you like a brick wall. A scent you couldn't place filled your nostrils, earthy and alive. You liked it, you liked it a lot.

      Trees, grass, soft earth, birds singing and fluttering in the sky- the sky! It was so, so blue! And so big. You couldn't even see the end of it, it just kept going and going, right to the edge of your vision, and then further still. The world was much bigger than you could have ever imagined.

     Just on the horizon, a large, golden glow was slowly ascending the sky. A gorgeous, glittering ball of light lighting up the sky with it's glorious shine. You felt your knees tremble, weak with emotion that was tearing up your brain, your body- you entire being. Like the light was washing away your shadows, it was warm, it felt good.

       Somewhere, you registered a tugging sensation on your arm, and you looked down at the source, mind still completely blank. 

     Jade was looking up at you, alarm and worry painted on her face, which glowed just like the sky in the light. You saw something glisten on her cheeks, and startled to see a single glittering tear rolling slowly down her cheek. As you went to wipe it off, another fell onto her cheek, and another, and another. Only it wasn't her eyes that the tears were coming from.

    Those were your tears.

    You sank to your knees, clutching the body in your arms like a lifeline, the only thing grounding you to the earth as you sobbed until your throat was raw and you were heaving deep, hiccuping breaths.

 

So much for acting natural.


	12. Arguments and worries

You had been barely two steps outside before Bendy had froze up completely, the only thing moving being his eyes which darted every which way so fast you were sure he would make himself dizzier than a Frisbee. 

      After a moment of this, he let out a whimpering noise, and you had snapped your attention to his face, having been trying to find what had turned him into a living statue. To say you had been shocked would have been a severe understatement, the guy was a wreck- big fat tears flooding his face, his lips quivering with small noises of distress that kept bubbling out of his mouth. You could feel your heart drop as panic flooded your brain. What the heck were you supposed to do? Let him cry? Try to snap him out if it? But how could you do that, smack him? Thousands of scenarios piled up in your mind as you searched for the best way to react.

       Instead of slapping the shit out of him, you eventually decided to try and grab his attention to you, reaching an uncertain hand to his arm and shaking it as gently as you could, not wanting to startle the toon.

       Slowly, he looked down at you, eyes glazed over as if he wasn't really seeing you, but was just looking in your direction. A few of his tears dripped off and landed on your cheeks, and you could see him lift a hand to your face out of the corner of your eye. But you refused to break eye contact with him, afraid that if you lost his attention then, he would disappear into the recces of him mind, to a place you couldn't reach. 

     Suddenly, the dam just broke. Black eyes already swimming with tears just overflowed with a heart wrenching sob and both of you collapsed on the floor, the demon clinging into you for dear life. Clutching at you tightly as his chest heaved with sorrowful breaths. If you thought you were confused before, you were completely baffled now. You still couldn't even work out what had set the poor guy off in the first place, but somehow it felt as though this was a moment you weren't supposed to see, like you were intruding on a moment that was not yours to share with the man pressed against you like a second skin.

      You were completely out of your element, rubbing your hands in what you hoped were soothing motions against his back, making the occasional sympathetic cooing noise in the back of your throat and praying for it to be helping somehow.

        After what must have been an hour, the pitiful creature seemed to have dried himself out, breaths coming in shallow hiccups as his whole body trembled and jerked in the aftermath of his breakdown. He looked exhausted, tail sprawled across the ground limply and his body just kind of leaning on yours, too tired to keep himself upright. Even his horns seemed to droop a little.

       Finally, he withdrew himself from you, curling back in on himself and refusing to meet you worried gaze. He seemed intent on staring at his hands, fidgeting with his fingers and still occasionally sniffing quietly. He brought them up to his face and scrubbed furiously at the remains of his episode, erasing the partially dry tracks left on his cheeks.

      He gave a dry chuckle, reluctantly bringing his eyes to meet your before darting away to the ground. "Well, that happened" he mumbled, almost too quietly for you to hear, but you did, and you felt a spike of irritation, giving him an unamused look as you straightened yourself up.

       

 

      For the rest of the day, any questions you had asked regarding his well-being were deflected our outright ignored, the dancing devil doing his damnest to stubbornly shove your attention to the side and bring it to other things. At one point he had just grumbled "Isn't Henry a little late, ya sure he knows where ya are Kit?".

       This was when you were suddenly aware that he was entirely correct, Henry was late, in fact he was very late, it had been far too long for him to have just decided to wait at their meeting place. 

      Shaking your head, you gave the demon a flat stare, silently demanding him to give you the answers you were looking for, but you stored that worry to the back of your mind for further consideration, later.

      "You still haven't told me what happened this morning", Bendy sighed, turning to face you again after tossing the twig he had been fiddling with into the bushes nearby. "I already told ya 'm' fine, just a lil' loopy cuz I slept bad" he groaned irritable. "You said you slept fine this morning" you countered, remembering the comment he had made just before you had left the break room.

     Bendy clicked his tongue irritably, sighing sharply through his nonexistent nose and scrunching his face up, sulking like a child at your retort. "Can still be tired can't I?" he grumbled, only he seemed to deflate after a few seconds, rubbing the back of his neck.

     Then his eyes seemed to light up. A shit eating grin spreading across his face that could have split his head in two. "A'course anyone would be tired after sleepin' in the same room as you, Miss-snores-a-lot" he snickered, and you felt your patients snap as you childishly rose to his taunt, effectively playing right into his hands. 

       "Maybe I was just enjoying the best night's sleep i've had in years" you scrawled, letters rough and wild with your growing anger. The demon in front of you smirked impishly "Oh i bet, everyone must wake ya up all night with that racket ya make, betcha wake ya'self up sometimes". You honestly couldn't believe him, he had the audacity to sneer at you after you had been so worried- you wanted so so badly to slap that cocky smile off his face.

      "Well maybe i can't sleep alone because of the damn nightmares I have every night!" you wrote, practically throwing the pad at him as you stood and went to limp-storm off. That was, until you realized the mistake you had made. 

     Turning sharply on your heel, went to snatch your pad back before he could read it, only to find it was far too late. The smile had dropped off his face, something about his expression went far beyond the reaction you had expected. He looked scared, haunted by something you couldn't see. And that look was focused directly on you.

 

"...I think we need to talk, Kit".


	13. Did he hurt you?

It honestly startled you when the toon before you had taken it upon herself to be so persistent in finding out what had irked you. At first it had seemed quite sweet, but it quickly got on your nerves. Why can't she just take the hint and let it go? you had thought to yourself.

       Your well placed diversion tactics hadn't worked either, at least not very well, they seemed to shut her up for a meter of seconds before she would continue to press for details.

    "I already told ya 'm' fine, just a lil' loopy cuz I slept bad" you had lied, almost wishing you had never left the studio in the first place. Almost. 

      "You said you slept fine this morning". Shit. Mentally cursing your past self's big mouth, you scanned the depths of your brain for a good response. Unfortunately for you, your brain had other ideas, and remained completely blank. Thanks brain.

        "Can still be tired can't I?" you had grumbled, feeling genuinely tired about everything at that moment, the day had started so well, taking his first steps into the world and everything! Why did she have to question your dramatic meltdown- clearly she was the one being unreasonable.

        Then an idea struck you. "A'course anyone would be tired after sleepin' in the same room as you, Miss-snores-a-lot" you had sneered, feeling a sense of victory when the Jester had bristled at your comment. Now completely distracted, previous train of thought very much derailed.

         Of course, nothing could be so simple in your life, nothing could be so cut-and-dry. Since as your eyes dances across the furious scrawls on the paper that had been tossed at you, you felt the cheeky smirk just drop as though she had physically smacked you right there and then. Your heart skipping several beats.

      "Well maybe I can't sleep alone cuz of the damn nightmares I have every night!"

      Now you realize that the toons intention was most likely not to throw her emotional baggage at you like yesterdays trash. Only as she turned around with a fresh sense of terror on her face at her own actions, you quickly deduced that she too had realized that, was in fact, what she had literally just done. 

      You could see her reaching out her hands in an attempt to backpedal, trying to take her words back that where in your fingers, immortalized in black and white. Dread was pooling in your chest as you formed your next sentence.

"...I think we need to talk, Kit"

         So that's exactly what you were doing now, talking. Only by 'talking' you obviously meant the two of you were both sat opposite one another, staring in an akward silence as the imaginary clocks in your heads ticked away irritatingly. 

      "Did-did Henry hurt ya?" you blurted out, voice cracking like a pre-pubescent kid. You probably could have phrased it a lot more tactfully, but at this point you honestly couldn't think right. It hadn't even occurred to you as a possibility that she might've suffered just as much as yourself and Boris.

     Really, she had such a sweet and innocent vibe- so diffrent from your own jaded soul, how could anyone blame you for overlooking that very real, very plausible theory? After all, why would a monster like him stop at just two lives in shambles? Besides, Joey had gone off somewhere, who was to say that 'somewhere' wasn't sitting across from you right now?

        You recognized your mistake very quickly. Jade seemed to ponder your question for a good minute, expression blank as can be as the wheels in her brain turned, making sense of your outburst. When that minute passed however, her face seemed to crack, first to bewilderment and then into anger. Now earlier you had found her anger rather cute, more like an angry puppy or maybe even a baby chick. This anger was very much in a diffrent league, her brows knitting into a scowl as she grit her teeth in an audible grinding noise. You could feel her scathing aura coming off of her in waves as you thanked your lucky stars that the woman before you was mute.

         "How dare you accuse Henry of raising a finger against me! He had been nothing but kind to me since my birth and we are family- I can't believe you would even ask me that!" 

        You bit back the temptation to explain to her exactly what the evil bastard had done and instead rose your hands in a pacifying gesture, shuffling back a little to enhance his surrender.      

        "Look i'm sorry, but ya don't seem to understand the whole picture here" you reasoned, as calmly as your panicky voice would allow you too. She was really scary when she was mad.

      "What do I not understand? Because it seems to be very clear to me that you are insulting my family".

         You let out a heavy sigh, shoulders drooping in defeat. You had your answer, you didn't need to explain yourself to her.

         "...Joey 'n' Henry ain't the saints ya seem to think they are Kit"

          Far beyond tired with your cryptic replies, the jesters nostrils flares and she took a dangerous step forwards "And what exactly are you implying?".

       "Why not ask the asshole yourself when he gets here?" you growled, storming out of the room. You didn't know why you were so angry all of a sudden, if anything you should probably be relieved that you didn't have any more complications to deal with. But something about it all felt wrong, the girl was far beyond stupid, surely she should have noticed something wrong with Henry during their time together. 

        Maybe you were so upset because somewhere, deep down, you had almost hoped she had suffered just like you. Someone you could share your pain with- a friend to replace the friend you had lost.

        A loud thud alerted you to the fact that you had, at some point, slammed your fist into the rickety framework, splintering a portion of the decaying wall with your bare hands.

        At what point had you become so selfish? You had that hallow thought to accompany you to the depths of the tombs you called home.


	14. Finding Boris

You sat in you chair, simmering with rage. Bendy had left just over twenty minutes ago- you could hear the guy stomping downstairs, having a tantrum that could have rivaled every two-to-five year old in history.

      Part of you had wanted to get up and storm right after him, give him hell for his behavior and give him a tongue-lashing that'd make him think twice about acting like a toddler in the future- only you still weren't exactly mobile, in fact you really doubted your leg would ever be the same again, so you stayed put. Lucky him. 

       Bendy had been nothing but kind to you the past two days, sure he had tried to kill you during the first few hours or so but afterwards he had...oh yeah, he hadn't explained that yet. But after that he had been really nice,which is why you were so confused, this morning his personality had just flipped- without any warning at all! Going from cheery and jovial to moody teenager within the span of two seconds.

      As far as complete strangers went, this guy took the cake in complete tomfuckery as far as you were concerned. 

       A small part of you that you would never admit to was also a little worried about what Henry had to do with all this.

       Not that she thought he would do anything bad, he was far too much a sweetie for that, you doubted he could even be capable of intentionally harming someone else, in all the years you had known him. Now this Joey character however, he was a mystery.

      You didn't know much about him other than the hint that him and Henry had been at ends a long time ago. For all you know he could be a person capable of being the devious character Bendy claimed him to be- but since he had said the same thing about your creator, his claims fell flat. 

       This left you with one conclusion, there had been a major misunderstanding at some point, leaving the Demon toon bitter and angry at some sort of argument that he had fabricated within his mind without even realizing it! That made much more sense, and so far Bendy seemed to be the type to react first and ask questions later. Maybe when Henry got here you could try and get to the bottom of it too. You would all sit down like the damn adults you were and sort the nonsense out. 

        Gritting your teeth, you pushed yourself onto your good foot, wobbling a little as you did so, feeling a little bit dizzy as you balanced yourself out. Once it passed, you limped your way over to the door that Bendy had stormed out of earlier, propping the door open with your hand as you struggled to maneuver your leg in the small space. The splint making it hard to fit comfortably in the gap you had to work with.

      At that moment, your stomach rumbled, a growling noise filling the silence as you patted your abdomen. A diet of nothing but bacon soup for the past few days probably wasn't the healthiest of diets, you could practically feel the heart disease now. Diabetes in a can.

       Food would have to wait. Only then it clicked in your mind that you actually had no clue where Bendy had gone off too, he could be anywhere! And the building was huge, unless you knew exactly where he was you could be looking for hours at the pace you were stuck with. You needed a better plan.

       You knew for certain he had gone downstairs at one point, the racket he caused had left no doubt, only him still being down there now was anyone's guess, he could just as well skulked back up, the guy could move like a ninja when he wanted too, so you were kinda stuck in that regard. 

       You decided it best to scour the first floor before venturing downstairs, hobbling through the hallways like a drunk elephant as you went. You eventually found that the borders along the walls worked as nice little ridges to cling to as you walked, the only tricky part being the rooms they lead too, that and switching sides. You were getting really sick of wooden hallways. God help this place if it ever caught fire.

     How long had Bendy lived here? Didn't he ever think about cleaning the place? Plus where the heck was Joey? He's the guy who called you here in the first place, you'd have thought he'd have the decency to say a quick hello at the very least. Maybe he had gone out for a while, but what person takes a three day stroll around town without coming back even once to check on things. This whole place was just as weird as everyone in it. Your first impression of Joey wasn't very good, needless to say, and you hadn't even met the guy yet.

        Your hunt for Bendy was still ongoing half an hour later, you had searched almost every single room in the west wing, and had begun to move towards the east, towards the ink machine and the room that had been sealed off, though you remembered spotting it again when Bendy had first carried you upstairs, and it had been opened up.

       In spite of your curiosity, you headed towards the ink machine first, knowing if you didn't find him there it would be simpler to double back rather instead. Of course he couldn't make it easier on her altogether and have been sitting in there with a bright smile and a sensible mood, nope. Playing hide and seek with him was getting more tiring by the second.

       On the bright side, now you could have a look-see at the mystery room, you had been very intrigued when you had first come across it, firmly pressing against the placed planks barring your access to the space. Only it hadn't budged an inch, so you had left it alone.  

     Now though, as you approached, you could see clearly into the room. You could see why it had been boarded up. You could see what had been hidden- who had been hidden.

      You had been wondering where Boris could have been, writing his absence off, presuming he went off with Joey or maybe just didn't want to bother with a strange guest. He had always seemed to be the type to like peace and quiet in the cartoons, a patient person, which was probably why he always seemed to get on so well with Bendy. They were like oil and , but still seemed to just click.

      The poor creature had been gutted, laid sprawled out across a metal slab in the center of the room, lethal looking rusty tools scattered across worktops surrounding him. His black fur matted with dry ink that had long since stopped flowing from his empty chest cavity, wide open for the world to see.

        You gagged at the sight, the strong inky smell that all living toons seemed to carry overpowering your senses as gathering at the back of your throat. Feeling lightheaded, you slowly approached the horrific sight in front of you, staring directly at the wolfs eyes, glassy and dull.

       You prayed for this to be some kind of prank- a disgusting, cruel prank. Maybe Bendy had set it up in his anger, hoping you'd find it and was snickering from behind something at the look of horror you were sure was on your face. A sobbing cough wracked your body as you willed yourself to not spill the contents of your stomach all over the floor, the bile rising like acid in your throat.

       You failed miserably, the was far too much for you as you collapsed to your knees, weak and trembling, unable to support your own weight. The agony of your leg reignited your nerves, sending shocks of pain throughout your body, the pain sending spasms up your spine and you convulsed violently as you heaved, stomach acid dripping from your nose as inky vomit pooled around you.

      The smell was vile, the smell of your vomit combining with the foul smell of Boris's corpse as you whimpered with the aftershock, the feeling of nausea still clinging to your insides.

      "What the he--" a voice yelled as something sharply rounded  corner behind you, stopping dead at the door. You looked up weakly, tears falling down your face as your traumatized mind tried to process the horrible situation you found yourself in.

    Bendy stared at you with wide eyes, taking in the sight before him "...Shit."


	15. Explanations

The look on Bendy's face would have almost been comical. Almost. If you hadn't been trembling in a pool of your own bodily fluids that is, and not sitting in said pool with the corpse of one of your childhood heroes sprawled just behind you. There was that too. That wasn't good.

       You think you are in some kind of shock, everything felt like it had just...stopped, you can't even think properly, too much swirling in your head.

       Numbly, you were just staring at the demon in front of you, as if he'd make it all go away. He didn't look angry anymore, in fact he didn't look anything anymore, his face just as blank as your own, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. 

        You had stared at eachother for what seemed like hours before Bendy made a move, carefully stepping over to you and kneeling down, tactfully ignoring the mess. Your eyes followed him until watching him strained your eyes, so then you just returned to staring unseeingly ahead, feeling like the breath had been knocked out of you with the force of a truck. Or ten.

         The demon had places a wary hand on your shoulder, it felt heavier than it should, and you willed yourself to meet his gaze.

     He didn't seem...upset enough. His eyes held sorrow, sure, but something about it looked old, like he actually knew that the corpse of his friend lay rotting in this room.

     That was impossible though, right? Surely it happened while you had both been distracted and you should be calling someone? There was a lunatic on the loose, you needed to get help, arrange a proper burial for the poor wolf, do anything but sit around and stare at eachother.

      Yet that was exactly what you two were doing. Nothing. Another moment ticked by before you willed yourself to move, pointing a shaking finger towards Boris as your bottom lip quivered once more. Bendy flinched a little, keeping his eyes focused on your outstretched hand, refusing to continue his gaze to his fallen friend, instead nodding simply and locking his jaw in place.

      "I...I-I know...I know" he whispered, his shaking voice barely audible, so quiet that if you hadn't been paying attention you wouldn't have even known he had spoken. But you did, you heard it just as loud as if he had screamed it into your ears. He knew? He knew the Boris lay cold and forever motionless? 

        You gaped at him expectantly, eyes pleading for him to explain what the hell was going on as they filled up with another round of tears. He sighed, such a forlorn sound, his shoulders sagged with the weight of worlds as he tried to crack a smile. Instead it turned out Be little more than a grimace.

       "When we were first created, for a long time, we didn't even leave the room we had been born in" he began quietly, voice trembling with unshed tears as he fought to swallow them down.

      "Joey, he was our creator see, didn't want folk to know 'bout us, didn't want 'em tryin' to take us for 'emselves, at least that's what we thought.

        I was first, I don' remember what I was before, I just suddenly was there, y'know? 'N' by then, well, Joey had already started slippin', everyone saw it, your Henry too, figure 's why he left" there was a bite to his words that he didn't even seem to try to hide. You remained motionless, wordlessly urging him to continue.

       "For a while it was just me, took the brunt of the guys 'fun' for a while, 'till Boris was brought into the picture, then it was the both of us, 'n' for a while everythin' was good, Joey even seemed ta calm down for a while.

      Didn't last, see he stopped messin' with us, but he hadn't managed to stop...other things... lotta people left, it all honestly just creeped 'em out, everyone but Henry, he kept me 'n' Boris safe" the demons grip on your shoulder was painfully tight at this point, his brows knitted into a dark expression that sent chills of fear down your spine.

      "Everythin' went ta hell when he left" he hissed, barely biting back a snarl at the memory of when Henry had stormed out of the studio, Boris and himself hot on the mans heels, begging for him not to leave. "Joey went completely bats"

      Then his face dropped, a neutral smile replacing his almost feral glare as he turned his head towards you.

       "Boris couldn't keep it up I-I guess, Joey musta' done...this-" he choked, waving a hand towards the wolf before continuing "before he left, haven't seen 'im for a while now" 

       You were utterly speechless. Physically and emotionally. You wanted desperately to push it all away, deny that something so awful could have been their lives, to deny that your friend had left them both so easily, to deny that you had stumbled into it so tastelessly.

      The truth though, was plain to see, you have the evidence surrounding you right there, all around you. 

     "So I was wonderin', when Henry does get here, don't suppose I could...tag along with ya both?" Bendy blurted, eyes shining with tears mingled with hope, eyes looking straight at you.

How could you say no to that? 

     Without even hesitating, you were nodding your head frantically, wanting so much to tell him that you would try make it okay, you'd make it so he'd never ever have to live so awfully again. You shot up, throwing your arms around the flustered demon tightly, trying to reassure him in the only way you could think of, now that your soiled notepad and only form communication was useless.

 

 

     ___________________________________

    You couldn't quite believe your luck. You had found the girl sobbing over your dearest friends corpse, having returned to the upper floors to try and smooth things over. 

      Though you had genuinely wanted to apologize, it seemed that lady luck was on side today, with just a little twist, you might even be able to turn her mind against her old friend. She wouldn't even think twice about his death then, and you wouldn't have to be alone again. You could seek her friendship guilt-free.

       Though you did wish that she hadn't stumbled across such a scene in the first place, there were other methods of making her see the truth without traumatizing the girl so much.

        Of course, you hadn't given her the whole story, not by a long shot, and a lie or two had been scattered in here and there, you had just needed her to calm down, before shock could wipe her mind and destroy your every chance of settling this.

    You just. Needed. Time. Just a little, and then you would have an ally to support you, a friend to stay with you forever, just like Boris would have. A flutter of joy bloomed inside of you at the idea of it.

 

"Uhh, hello? Jade? You in here?"

 

...Time was up.


	16. Strange noises and a new guest

You broke out of the hug once you heart the familiar voice, feeling excitement and relief flood your tired mind. The shock of the day had really got to you, and you were just dying to get to Henry and let him take over, you just weren't made for this kind of situation.

       Turning to face Bendy, you noticed an odd look of disappointment flash across his face, he almost looked sad for a moment, before a large grin began to stretch across his face. It looked almost painful, the smile didn't reach his eyes.

       "Hey, speak a' the devil, looks like your pals here Kit" he said, voice smooth and rich, you'd never heard him speak like that before. It would have probably made you suspicious if you weren't already frantic to get to your friend, tugging at Bendy to help you to him.

        The demon obliged easily, slinking an arm under yours and pulling you up right along with him. The two of you froze though once you heard what almost sounded like...liquid, flowing from somewhere close by. Pipes creaking softly underneath your feet.

      Hadn't Bendy turned the ink machine off at some point? Bendy didn't move, and neither did you, both of you straining to hear more, trying to place what could have made the very distinguishable sound.

       Another call from Henry pulled the two of you out from your trance, although Bendy still looked slightly disturbed, though eventually seemed to write it off as the old building creaking under it's own weight as you both made your way to the main entrance.

       The halls were still flooded with ink from the overflowing pipes, though the large majority of it seemed to have dried into large, sticky patches along the walls and floor. You could hear the suction of the substance sticking to your feet as you walked, the tug irritating your injured leg as it pulled at your muscles.

      Up ahead, you could hear Henry making his way towards the two of you, muttering about the state of the building as his voice seemed to rise in pitch with worry. He sounded tired, and you smiled despite yourself. He must have been looking all over the place.

      The old man turned the corner just as you and Bendy did, and you all almost ended up in a bundled heap together on the ground, but luckily, Bendy pulled you back just before you collided with him, keeping you steady as you wobbled from the loss of balance.

     __________________

You almost yelped as you spun around the corner, almost colliding into two small bodies in your haste. You had been searching for your friend all night, not daring to sleep a wink as you searched the streets for the small toon.

      You had sent her off to your old work place a few days ago, having received a message from her telling you the place was completely empty. Naturally you had gone to pick the no-doubt disgruntled jester up, expecting her to demand to be taken home and spoilt rotten for the wasted trip. Not that she wasn't already always fussed over. She was definitely quite the princess, in the least feminine way.

     So imagine your surprise when you had turned up to find the toon nowhere in sight. You had checked and double checked you had the right place, before nervously calling her phone, a bad feeling deep in the pit of your stomach as the phone rang. It dropped altogether when it cut immediately to voicemail.

     Eventually, you had given up on trying to call her, she hadn't answered or turned up in over an hour, and you had felt panic begin to rise like bile in your throat as your mind worked to think where she could have possibly ended up.

      You had searched the library, cafè's, coffee shops, book stores, art stores- every place you could have imagines her getting sidetracked by, and the feeling of dread had only risen as each place had turned up empty. At one point you may or may not have knocked over a small child, honestly it was all a blur.

     As the sun had begun to rise high in the sky, you had eventually decided to check the studio, hoping and praying that perhaps she had maybe decided to stay there, heck maybe Joey had turned up last minute and she was safe as can be, having the time of her life chattering away about her favourite cartoons and not lying dead somewhere in a cold dark ditch.

        You had been right about the fact she had stayed there, at least. Though safe and sound might not be the case.

      She looked awful, her eyes red and raw as though she had just finished sobbing her heart out. Her clothes were wrinkled and filthy, while the large majority of her was covered in what looked like ink, and vomit.

      He didn't miss the oddly misshaped leg either, which she has leaning heavily away from, the limb having ballooned to a painful looking size. He felt his heart break at the sight of her, the poor dear looked miserable.

      Before he had the chance to throw himself around her though, he took notice of the person holding her upright.

      Shock wasn't even close to the feeling that slammed into you at this point, you actually felt rather lightheaded as you took in the sight of the other toon in the room.

       Bendy looked just as surprised to see you as you were to see him. His eyes wide and toothy mouth agape in a rare display of the few moments the cocky demon was caught completely off-guard. You should know- you did create the fellow after all.

       "H-hey there, old pal" Bendy stammered, a look you couldn't place swimming just behind the toons jovial expression. He held out a filthy hand towards you in greeting, only to startle and retract it quickly once he noticed the grime.

      "Uhh, sorry about that, guess we're both a bit mucky huh?" he chuckled, nudging Jade, who untangled herself from the larger toons long limbs and all but threw herself at you. A small whimper escaping her throat as she wrapped a pair of small arms tightly around your midsection, face buried into your chest as she squeezed the breath from you.

        "H-hey there squirt, w-how? What the devil happened here?" you spluttered, looking from the happily grinning demon to the trembling Jester in bafflement. Wondering exactly what the heck he wanted answers to more, what had happened to Jade, or why the place he had once loved was now standing in ruins with Joey nowhere in sight.


	17. Two-faced and trouble

You don't really know how it had happened, but somehow all three of you had ended up in the break room, Bendy sitting just across from you with Jade comfortably sat in the plush armchair in between. 

       You might have overreacted just a little bit when you had realized the extent of her injuries. That knee would never heal, not completely, but you had gradually calmed down as you found that it had been treated, if clumsily, by the Dancing Demon himself, who seemed a little proud of his handiwork.

       Though the Demon in question you noticed, kept sending distrustful glares your way, whenever Jade's back was turned. You felt a little uncomfortable at that, but honestly you couldn't blame him too much. You had been the one to walk out after all. You had no room to complain.

       "So...neither of you have told me how this happened yet" you pried, earning a nervous twitch from Bendy, while Jade took a deep breath. 

        "Alright, but before you freak out, let him explain" she signed, using the crude sign-language that the both of you had tried to learn to spare paper. Until you had both realized that firstly, you both sucked at it, and secondly whiteboards were a thing.

       Nodding slowly, already having a feeling you where really not going to enjoy this conversation, you sat back in the sofa, cringing as your old joints creaked with the strain.

     "It was my fault" the inky devil suddenly blurted out, making you and Jade startle a little in your seats. "I chased her down to the pit" he added.

       Surprise quickly switched to a dark rage as the words set in, a deep set frown marring your kindly features as you eyes the toon sitting across from you with almost murderous intent.

      "Please, explain" you managed, gritting back the temptation to smack your eldest creation into next Tuesday. Both toons flinched at the low, fatherly tone, each very much aware of your "I'm telling you off" voice. The voice you knew a certain someone was all too familiar with.

      Bendy shifted anxiously in his place, flitting eyes around the room and trying to look anywhere but you. You would have felt very amused at that sheepish look if you weren't preoccupied with your scolding.

      "I thought she was Joey" he whispered quietly, giving you a look that for a second froze the blood in your veins. Dread settling in once more. "Joey? Attacking him doesn't make this better kiddo" you grumbled, hesitant to let go of you anger.

       "He got bad after you left" Bendy said simply, a malicious glint in his eyes as you took a moment to digest this, pieces clicking in place "He started the cult stuff again". Jade just looked mildly confused, but seemed to be following. 

      Secretly you had always known, or at least had a hunch, and you were really beginning to regret leaving the two toons alone with Drew. 

      He had begun acting strange long before Bendy and Boris had shown up. It had started with little things, odd but easily written off as just an eccentric character. Things like making odd references to things, often involving the sketchy verses from some of his books. 

      Only it soon became a lot more...prominent, he began demanding random objects from all of his employees, you remember the time he had stormed up to you, eyes wide and bulging. He almost looked unhinged in that moment, and you had hastily shoved the first thing you could grab into his open palms, you faintly recalled it to be the bottle of ink you had been using to draw that day.

       Then, when the toons had been brought into the picture, he seemed to just fall deeper into whatever he had thrown himself into. Becoming obsessed with the two creatures and convincing himself that everyone was planning to steal them away. The once light-hearted comedy sketches turned, the messages towards the young audience taking on a disturbing twist.

      At this point, you had stepped in, you had seen the fear in everyone's eyes, more noticeably in the toons, growing each and every day. You had lost your temper for the first time in a long time that day, and it had seemed to do the slipping man a world of good. For a while, things had been pretty good.

     Unfortunately though, Drew had flipped again, only this time he had focused his mania directly on you it seemed. Whispering dangerous ramblings when everyone's backs were turned, and eventually driving you out. You had been very glad to have escaped that before it had escalated further.

     When you had received the letter, part of you was skeptical about the mans motives, half suspecting that it was all a ruse to try and get you back into the buisness. A place you wanted to part of. So instead, you had elected to send Jade, figuring the experience in the old studio would be good for her, to learn how he had done it in his younger years and finally breaking out of her shell.

      That and she had always loved the two toons of his past, and he felt a giddy pleasure in imagining her face when she met the two in the flesh.

       Looks like you had made a very bad mistake.

    "Boris is dead", you snapped your wandering eyes back to the demon, mind going blank as your lips pressed into a thin line. This was a lot to process in such a short period of time. 

     You turned your head to Jade, the Jester wearing a grim expression as she stared down at her now clean hands, wringing them while making small noises of distress. You knew that noise. She wasn't taking all this very well.

      Jerking slightly at your movement, Bendy settled back down as he watched you move to grasp the little toons hand tightly, and flinched as you reached for one of his own gloved fists as well. Staring into his guarded eyes with your own deep-set sorrowful ones.

       "I'm so, so sorry, Bendy" you choked, voice cracking with raw emotion, which clearly, he wasn't expecting.

     You watched him splutter for a moment, stony expression dropping from his face within the span of a few seconds. You knew this child a lot better than he liked to admit, you knew resentment when you saw it. As hard as he seemed to be trying to hide it, though why you didn't know.

       "Jade, excuse us for a minute alright? I think me 'n' Bendy need t' have a long overdue talk"


	18. His revenge

"What are ya gonna do? Shove me?" the cocky demon sneered, bending low to glare in your face, his forehead almost touching yours in a threatening gesture.

    You quickly determined that was fucking exactly what you where gonna do. Ignoring the searing pain flaring in your leg, you shoved all of your body weight against the lanky character before you, earning a surprised shriek from the guy in question, and he fell to the floor rather easily. 

      Without missing a beat, you stepped over Bendy and hobbled away as fast as you could hobble, knowing that you wouldn't get all that far before Bendy caught up with you, but you'd be damned if you didn't try. The lying asshat just brought out the reckless in you- the reckless that you hadn't even known you had.

    It felt good to know you had it in you to be brave. Even if that bravery was basically a mix of stupidity and raw determination.

     You'd only made it a few feet away before you felt a hand close tightly around your wrist, roughly dragging you back towards the main entrance. Blowing out an irritated sigh, you hoped the demon could feel the rage radiating off you, and you could have sworn he flinched for a moment as he let out a huff of his own.

       "Look, 'm sure he'll be fine, just-just give me a minute, to figure things out" he snapped, finally fed up with your furious Resistance.

     Cute. Real cute. The demon thought that he had the right to order you around after the stupid stunt he had pulled. 

______________________

     Shortly after Henry had arrived, the three of you had all had a very...tense gathering in the break room. Your friend had been very angry after discovering who was responsible for your little accident. Though had calmed down very quickly in light of the news Bendy had shared, some of which you knew, some going completely over your head, though it seemed to make perfect sense to Henry. 

      The two had excused themselves to speak in private, and you could hear a very heated exchange before the two had returned, Henry taking his seat very calmly. A self satisfied smirk spread wise across his face. Bendy, however, seemed even more moody than he had before they left, sulking from his corner of the room, which he had decided to stomp off towards to skulk in the corner, sending glares towards you and your friend every now and then as you spoke.

       "I have wonderful news, Jade" Henry had began, patting a hand on your good leg and chuckling good naturally at the devils intelligible grumbles.

      "It seems that Bendy here will be staying with us for a while, though it seems like you had already decided that, so i'm sure you already knew" he grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes as you gave him a sheepish smile.

     "I'm glad that you approve of it though" you signed quickly. All things considered, you were pretty happy with this development. 

      Suddenly, his expression dropped, expression becoming deadly serious. A look that told you that something very bad was about to happen, if it hadn't already begun. This was a face that he only wore in emergencies.

     "I'm not gonna lie to you though Jade, from what Bendy told me, getting Ben' out of this place'll drop us into some nasty buisness" he relented, shoulders dropping with your mood. Nasty buisness?

      "See-" he began, before Bendy sharply cut him off. "-wait! Please, don't, I don't want...i'll tell her, just..." he pleaded, face scrunching up in an emotion you didn't recognize. 

   Your concern grew. Henry shot him a questioning look, to which he shrugged, "I just wanna be the one to tell her, in my own time" 

    There was a pause, before Henry nodded, apparently happy to leave it be for the time being.

       "Either way, I think we should get going, don't really fancy being here if a certain someone gets back while we're sat here twiddling our thumbs"

_________________

     "What honestly gave you the idea that i'd be alright with this?" your where hands almost a blur as you signed rapidly, knowing full well Bendy had absolutely no idea what you where saying, but needing desperately to get it out of your system.

      "Look I told you- he'll be fine! Look we need to go, now!" he almost screamed, picking you up off of the ground and throwing you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. You thrashed around, trying to escape his hold, but he simply gripped you tighter, his strength far greater than your own.

       Henry, your poor, dear creator, had tumbled down the put that had almost crippled you. Tumbled, more accurately dropped. 

     Bendy had casually pointed out the pit that you yourself had fallen into and Henry, being curious about how deep the drop had been had very easily allowed himself to be led over to. Before either of you could react, the devil suddenly had took the old mans throat in a vice-like grip, dangling the helplessly struggling body over the chasm without breaking a sweat.

      Of course, you had immediately stumbled forwards, only to be forcefully kicked back, his foot connecting with your abdomen and sending you flying back into the wall, before crumbling painfully to the ground.

      You had watched through eyes blurred with messy tears, trying to call out to either of them through your spluttering coughs.

       "This is whathappens to liars." he had snarled, voice dropping an octave in a terrifying sound that had shook you to the core. Never before had the friendly face before you looked so demonic.

       Hendys hands fumbled with Bendys, clawing at the obstructions to his windpipe as he gasped for air, eyes bulging in their sockets as his lips began to turn blue. His pleading eyes boring into Bendys, who seemed to falter for a few moments, face morphing into something sad, frightened.

     For that moment, both you and Henry had allowed hope to bloom inside of your chests. Then Bendys fury seemed to snap back into place, even though his hands still trembled slightly, and with a shaky breath that sounded almost like a sob, he had dropped Henry like he had been burned with oil.

      The old man hadn't made a sound as he fell, and you had scrambled to the side, ready to throw yourself over in a desperate attempt to catch him although he was long past your grasping fingers reach. But Bendy didn't even allow you that small comfort, yanking you from the floor as he made a mad dash towards the exit. Mumbling something about 'safe now' and that you both needed to 'escape'. 

       The only person you wanted to 'escape' from was him, and as you were carried out of the building, bashing frantic fists against your captor, you sent one last longing look at the hole as the doors quietly creaked shut.


	19. Lost

Your nerves had turned on you hours ago, with the elation came despair, and the unknown territory of the world had reduced you into a jittery, nervous wreck.

     Jade had gone limp over your shoulder a short while ago, although you could still hear her heartbreaking sobs wracking her trembling body every now and then. She sounded terrified, though you don't really think it's herself she's so worried about.

       You felt...guilty. Though you didn't really know why. You had saved her, both of you! Why couldn't she just realize how dangerous their creators were? Why couldn't she understand that you'd done it for the both of you? You could have easily left her there, to find out the hard way. But you couldn't bring yourself to, you couldn't be alone again, you refused to. Even the thought of it made you grasp the quivering toon just a little bit tighter.

       You also didn't want to think about how...easy you'd gone on the sick man that your comrade was weeping for. You'd wanted so much to open him up- force him to suffer what poor dear Boris had suffered. Make him pay for his sins. But you couldn't, because you knew that if you did, Jade would never be able to forgive you.

      You also didn't want to admit how much the sorrow and regret in the old mans eyes had threw you. So much so that you'd faltered when dropping the man deep into the dusty dregs building.

       Strangely, you felt no satisfaction for what you'd done.

      Regardless, you kept walking, you didn't really know where to, but something was leading you East, so East you went. 

       It really was fascinating though, the world, had you not been preoccupied with the thoughts battling in your brain, you would have very much been in awe of the towering buildings around you, just past the treeline you had hidden behind. It was almost scary, outside was so, so much bigger than you had ever imagined. It made the idea of those cramped walls back at the studio feel so far away, and even less appealing. 

       Suddenly, you felt something close tightly around you tail, and you froze in place, stiffening as you made a squeaking noise, breath hitching in your throat. Looking over your shoulder, you saw Jade's triumphant face as she clutched your tail with both hands, looking like she'd just won, at something. It would have been comical, without the uncomfortable tingling sensation travelling up your spine.

     So, naturally, you dropped her like a rock. And then immediately regretted it at the cry of pain that she let out, clutching at her leg while reeling with the pain. Without any hesitation, you practically threw yourself to your knees, hands hovering over her as you tried to put your apology into audible words.

      You could see the drying tears still dripping down her cheeks. You hadn't prepared yourself yet to meet them.

      "I...I'm sorry" you found yourself saying, though you couldn't figure out what for. Even still, she nodded in acknowledgment, body tense and eyes downcast. 

    She made an odd series of movements with her hands, making a point not to look up at you as she moved. You knew that this was how she spoke around Henry, though without the old man around, you were clueless about what it meant.

     "I don't know what'chya sayin' Kit" you pointed out, feeling a little helpless with how to react. And she shook her head irritantly, before her face lit up, and she began to trail her fingers in the mud underneath her.

     "Where are you even taking me?" it said, and you furrowed your nonexistent eyebrows, mouth pressing into a thin line. "I...I don't know, yet" you replied honestly, refusing to meet her scrutinizing gaze. 

      She paused, regarding you for a moment, before wiping away her words and writing once again. "We can always head back, you can still make this okay!" and she looked bright, hopeful even, like she truly believed her words. Like she wasn't just saying it. You could feel yourself cracking a little.

     "It ain't safe Kit, trust me, we're better off like this" you assured, trying to convey everything in your gaze, but her face just crumpled, looking just as despairing as before. "The creators are dangerous Kit, they'd sooner turn on us before lettin' us walk free, we ain't nothin' but things to 'em" you spat, regretting your outburst as soon as it left your mouth.

     Surprisingly though, instead of bristling at your words, Jade just seemed to allow them to digest a moment, mulling them over in her head.

      "I don't understand" she admitted, not looking defeated, but definitely more open than before. Maybe this was your chance to convince her to come around. "I can accept maybe this Joey character might be a bad seed, but Henry raised me Bendy, he's looked after me at every turn, he's never done anything bad to me- ever" 

       This threw you off. Nothing? Nothing at all? You sat back, both of you sitting in the muck. "He left us." you murmured. "You've mentioned" she countered, fixing you with a hard stare.

       "He knew" and at this, she paused, sensing that you needed a minute. 

        "He knew what Drew was up to, 'n' he still left us" you hissed out, gritting your teeth, knowing that you wouldn't be able to bring yourself to continue. Henry's betrayal was bad enough, you couldn't bare to think about what had lead up to it. Or followed it. But it seemed to be enough, for the expression of horror on the poor Jesters face almost made everything worth it. Seeing Boris's corpse must have given her the...general idea of what you had suffered.

       Without saying another word, you lifted the toon up once more, this time without struggle, and instead she unconsciously curled into your hold.


	20. The war of love and logic

Your heart had practically broken at the thought of your dear Henry being left in such a precarious state. For all you knew, the man who raised you was dead, and you were itching to return to a rotting corpse. The man that was practically your father could have died a long while ago.

       You had wept for hours, slung over the demons shoulder as he carried you god-knows were. Unless the demon had a sudden change of heart, you were going nowehere fast, and both of you knew it. You had your suspicions that Bendy might even be a little releived about that too, and it made you even angrier at the man.

      At some point though, you had made the unfortunate decision to grab at his swishing tail, curiousity overpowering reason and basic etiqquite. And after you had been dropped right into the dirt, it had sparked a very intruiging conversation between the two of you, and you had learned something that half of you wishes that you really hadn't.

      You knew absolutely nothing about Bendy, you knew this for a fact, had known for a while in fact. You had realised that the cartoon and the toon himself where, in fact, very diffarent.

      The real Bendy was still quite chipper, determined to wear his trademark confident grin that sometimes seemed to be plastered to his face with cement. He was also mischevious, but with an underlying maturity that he almost appeared to be trying to hide, which was more than balanced by his immaturity, two very contrasting ttraits.It all conflicted with his persona- his mask.

    Of course, he could also be quite terrifying as well, he could flit into dark moods without visibly showing it, and it was then when he could become really dangerious. He could lose his grip on reason with the snap of a finger and calm down just as quickly, which you had borne witness to very much in person.

     Despite this, you found yourself trusting him when he told you about Henry's misdeeds.

     It had helped that Henry had all but admitted it outright to your face though. You had been clinging to the idea that all of it had been a huge misunderstanding- that the bad egg in the lot was this Drew fellow, and that it could all be made better if you took the time. Until it seemed that there was far more to this laying under the surface, and it sure felt much worse than anything you could even fathom.

      The worst of it all, almost even more than Henry's perilous situation, was that you didn't even have the full story. You had bits and pieces, just enough to get a rough estimate of the whole scanario, but you didn't have enough to make your own choices. And it made the whole thing infuriating. There was also no way that you could force him to tell you everything though, you could see how much it ate at him, he had looked so...vunerable back in the break room with Henry, and downright pained just now. That sad expression didn't suit him, and you found yourself hoping you'd never see that look on anyone's face ever again.

       For now, you had decided to put your faith in Bendy. Not to say you were abandoning your creator, but at the end of the day, the only chance you had to sort the whole lot out was to get Bendy to your way of thinking, so for now, you'd relent. And hope to any powers there may be that Henry could hang in there.

        The next time you had been picked up, he had decided to carry you in a much more comfortable position. Like the way Henry had carried you as a child, and you instinctively huddled into his hold, seeking comfort in the familarity of your memories.

As much as you tried to fool yourself otherwise, you didn't really know what was right anymore.

_________________

It was only after blinking your eyes open to the almost blinding sunrise that you even realised you had fallen alseep. And you had slept for a very long while as well. You supposed that emotional trauma and dealing with the aftermath of a very complicated history could be tiring.

      To your shock, an emotion you were growing very accustomed to, it appeared that Bendy hadn't once stopped walking, as the demon in question was panting, quaking with the strain of keeping both himself and you upright. It also looked like he had covered an impossible amount of ground too, as you actually noticed the area you found yourself in.

      How convenient for you to end up eerily close to your home.

      By the looks of it, you were just a mile or two away, and you were quick to notify Bendy. He seemed taken aback by the news, though looked grateful at the prospect of getting some rest. Until you mentioned that you and Henry lived together.

      At this, he had stopped dead in his tracks, looking very conflicted over the idea of staying in the man he may have just murdured's home. Apparently his exhaustion had won, since an hour or two later, you were sat in your living room, with Bendy collapsed on the plush white rug, snoring loudly.

      As the low rumbling of his sleep quickly transformed into background noise in your mind, you allowed your mind to wander again. you realised how ridiculous to worry so much, but you just couldn't stop your emotions and logic clashing.

     You had wanted so very badly to believe Henry was incapable of doing wrong, just as you had imagined throughout most of your life. Stubbornly holding the image of perfection in your adoring younge eyes. It seemed your wake-up call was finally slapping you in the face. What were you supposed to do now?


	21. Monsters in the halls

A small part of you knows you should have expected that Bendy was planning something. Though another, bigger part of you was actually surprised that that plan had been so...rushed, less cunning, less brains and a lot more brawn. Bendy had always been a sneaky little guy. But at this point, you were much more happy about still being alive.

      You had noticed his shift attitude almost as soon as you set eyes on him, though he tried to disguise it. You had been rather fearful about the little looks he had been sending Jade, thinking maybe he'd drawn her into whatever his plans were too, but at least now you knew that was not the case. Or else it hadn't ended up that way.

      Bendy often seemed to overlook the fact you were a pretty observant man, which had been convenient back in the day, it helped to avoid many of the pranks directed his way. Much to the little devils displeasure.

     This of course, also meant that you could easily see the resentment swimming in his deep black eyes. Which only furthered you own gnawing guilt. 

      You could still see the look on his face as you stormed out of that door all those years ago, small form being firmly held in place by an equally sorrowful wolf. The wolf who had probably died as a result of your own actions. Your throat jumped as you restrained a sob, crying wouldn't make it all better, but god this really was a huge mess wasn't it?

      Grunting, you made to sit yourself up, having lain on the ground for the good part of an hour trying to sort your head out, only to promptly drop back down again. Damn that hurt- a lot, and you suddenly had a rush of respect for Jade, for still being up and about after that fall. Wait- Jade!

       How could you have not noticed sooner? Oh the poor girl must be so scared, she always was one to worry, and she had just seen you plummet very, very far down. You reasoned that the only reason she wasn't already hovering over you now was because she couldn't. She probably wasn't even in the building anymore, and you really regret not giving her the full story- sod Bendy, saves scarring the poor girl for life.

       Your realization for Jade's well-being, both mental and physical, did little to help you move. The bad part to aging, you couldn't bloody move injured or not. Your bad diet and smoking habit had absolutely nothing to do with your terrible health of course, it was all time's fault. 

      In your struggle, you didn't even realize the darkness fading around the edges of your vision.

__________________

This time when you woke up, it was slow, unconscious trying to cling to you. It took a moment for you to remember that you weren't actually blind, cracking your eyes open, blinking away the sleep and trying to shake away the fuzzy feeling clouding your mind.

      Everything was a whole pile of hurt, and you could barely swallow for your mouth was dryer than sand. You felt awful.

       You could make out the very blurry shape of something rectangular in front of you, and upon further inspection, it turned out to be...a tray of food. Very clumsily prepared, it looked like someone had thrown together stuff from the old cans in the break room cupboards. The leftovers that the employees had neglected to eat, or throw in the trash.

       The glass of water was much more welcome, or it would have been if it hadn't been a murky green. You could smell it before you even saw it, and it smelled like the rancid stench of the sewers.

       You ignored the hunger, because you didn't know who had left it there. It couldn't be Jade, she'd be right there with you if it had been her, and Bendy seemed far too attached to her to leave her to her own devices. 

      It was then you became acutely aware of the silence, or lack thereof. You could hear wet-sounding footsteps stalking the halls. Slurping and splashing echoing throughout the once-quiet building, it hadn't been there before, and you wondered why it was only now you could hear it.

       You startled at the sudden banging noise to the right of you, where you were mildly concerned to find the only door to the room blocked off by heavy-looking furniture. A large book-case piled high with chairs and tables cluttered against it.

      Your face paled at the thumping became louder, the door shaking in its frame while muffled, agonized moans traveled through the walls.

       That pitiful barricade wasn't for keeping you trapped within- it was for keeping that out. And as your body trembled and your mind raced with possible explanations, the doorknob rattled hauntingly in place.


	22. Teaching and bad memories

Bendy had been knocked out for the majority of the day, and had only woken shortly before you yourself settled down to rest.

    "G'morn-uhh, what time 's it?" he had yawned, voice groggy and accent thick with sleep as he raised his arms in a stretch. He looked very satisfied at the clicking noise from his joints, before settling down on the sofa beside you.

      "Just a little past eight" you scrawled, having taken the time he was knocked out to rifle through your draws to find your old whiteboard. The pen made a high pitched squeaking noise as you wrote, much to Bendy's distaste, as he cringed at the sound.

       "Really? Jeez, musta' really needed that" he murmured, running a hand over his horns and down to his eyes. "Haven't conked out like that in forever"

      You smiled despite yourself, it was amazing how comfortable he had made himself so quickly.

       Picking up your pen again, you were just about to write something, before Bendy nudged your leg, trying to capture your attention.

     "I was thinkin'" he began once you met his gaze. "Could you uhh, teach me that hand-wavin' stuff?" 

     You made a face at his wording, but nodded anyway, figuring it would be a lot easier than carrying your board around all the time.

 

You were wrong- oh so very wrong. The guy was unteachable! Not in the sense he was stupid- far from it, but he had an insatiable curiosity for the smallest of things, and would ask so many questions about things that frankly didn't matter. 

      It took an obscene amount of time for him to learn a few basic phrases, and they were slow, clumsy movements, but it was progress and you were very proud of yourself for not slamming your face into the coffee table too many times. He seemed pretty excited about them too.

       He seemed to find understanding your own speech a lot easier than 'speaking' himself, so by the end of the evening you were fairly confident in his abilities, even though he still had a very long way to go.

     Eventually though, you had to cut your little lesson short, you eyes stinging and dry, somehow exhausted from the days events despite sleeping for so long in the demons arms.

     You felt a little guilty for leaving Bendy to his own devices, the look of disappointment on his face when you announced you were turning in for the night made you feel evil for ruining his excitement.

      "I'll see you tomorrow" he chirped, waving happily from his seat on the floor, and you lazily waved back before hobbling off to your room- luckily on the ground floor.

_______________

You had made a lot of progress since reaching Henry's home. Sure you might not be able to call yourself 'friend' just yet, but she was smiling, which was a damn sight better than what she was back on the muddy trail on the way here, so you were pretty confident in your chances.

      It had been very interesting learning how Jade communicates with Henry- or used to anyway. You'd tried to make an effort to keep up with her 'lesson', which had been fairly paced, but it was surprisingly difficult to remember the motions she made, only to then repeat it yourself. You had a lot more respect for the trouble she went to in order to communicate with people.

       Fun aside, you realized that you really had no plan from that point out, you honestly didn't expect to get this far, and now you were here, you had no idea what to do. It didn't feel safe to walk around amongst the general public, but you didn't want to have gone through so much just to get stuck in a diffrent cage. 

      Honestly, you were stumped. And you had nobody to turn to either, you doubted Jade would take it very well if you asked her, she was already dealing with the loss of her creator, and as much as you hated the man, for some reason she didn't. She needed time to come to terms with the whole mess, she was already coping better than you could have asked for, you didn't dare push your luck.

       Still though, you had to wonder why Henry hadn't already messed up with her before now, and now you had all the time in the world to mull things over.

        You felt glad to have stepped in before he had, saved her a lot of grief, you would know, you've experienced firsthand what it feels like to be the one betrayed. 

       The quiet brought more than just self-reflection of course, and memories of sick and twisted rituals filled you mind, flashing behind your eyelids. The monstrous voice of the unholy abominations being forced into your body as your pleading cries fell upon deaf ears. 

       The black shadows crawling their way up your flesh, burning agony ripping apart your skin as though you'd been tossed in a vat of acid. The helpless tears running down your face as they forced their way into you mouth, eyes, ears, violently pushing their way into your soul. Joeys ecstatic laughter fading into static as the foul, taunting whispers lulled your mind into a fitful sleep...

         Snapping yourself out of the memory, you forced yourself to take deep, calming breaths, focusing on the repetitive motions rather than the erratic beating of your heart.

      You must have looked quite the sight right then, a white-knuckled grip on the table, heaving gasping breaths with eyes peeled back so wide they could have popped out of their sockets. 

     You couldn't help it, the shadows just still haunted you, and this time you wouldn't have Boris to fall back on.

     You allowed your fear to morph into a burning hatred, renewed and burning bright- oh god you hoped Henry was still alive just so he could rot to death in that studio. So he could feel each and every cell in his body die as he gasped his last agonizing breath.

      You hoped he could see you laughing from Hell, as you showed his newest creation the monster he really is. And you'd made a new family for yourself without ever having to worry about your creators again.


	23. Breakfast

You woke up to the smell of something foul tickling your nostrils. An impressive feat considering you had half buried yourself in fluffy blankets, the only thing visible being your leg which lay elevated and stuck out to the side. It was a lot comfier than it probably looked.

       Peering out of your nest of blankets, you let your sleepy eyes travel around the moderately-sized room, decorated with brightly colored posters and a modified book-case shelf lining the whole room, tucked just above your head and out of the way.

         The desk crammed just opposite your bed was completely drowned in various papers, most of which holding drawings in varying stages of completion. Good, no fire, at least not here. 

 With a heavy groan, you resign yourself to getting up, feeling the heavy loss of those few extra minutes of sleep that could have been. As you extracted yourself from the tangled heap on the floor, you heard excited shouting from the other side of the house.

     "Jade! Jade wake up!"

     As you slowly shuffled your way towards the noise, feeling very glad for the painkillers you had taken the night before, you realized that the sour smell was coming from the direction you were headed for. That probably wasn't a good sign.

      Curiously peeking your head around the open corner, you saw Bendy practically vibrating in place next to the dining table, tail going nuts as he spotted you. 

     "Oh hey! Mornin' Kit! Lookee here what I got up to!" he grinned, making a dramatic gesture to the...interesting spread he had laid out.

     The table had been generously filled with many classic breakfast dishes, pancakes, eggs, bacon- the lot. Only the entire room smelled of smoke, everything although resembling what they should be in shape, where basically glorified charcoal. Especially the waffles, as they were still on fire.

      You really hoped he didn't actually expect you to eat that.

      As a toon, eating was generally just something of a treat, gave you a burst of energy you didn't really need, but it was a routine, and you loved the familiarity of routine. It quickly became less of a treat and more of a necessity.

      To feed your habit, literally speaking, you had learned to cook a manner of things. Even finding inspiration for you 'healthy eating' skit for your show, and by the looks of things, Bendy had found your recipe books.

      It was almost hilarious that someone had been able to mess up this badly, and from the look on the devils face, he didn't even know it.

    "So...wanna give it a shot? I followed the books real close, it ain't perfect but I think I did good"

     You gulped, that pride in his eyes was far too precious to crush. Henry was right- you really were too nice. This thought was running through your mind as you reluctantly sat at the table, Bendy following suit and sitting across from you.

      "Well, let's dig in!"

_______________

Let's not dig in- abort mission! Bad idea!

     Resisting the temptation to spit out your mouthful of the black pancakes that tasted like ash on your tongue, you swallowed and reached across the table, hastily swatting the fork out of Jade's hand.

       Was it your imagination that she looked relieved?

      Before you could contemplate it any further, you quickly realized you had just smacked her utensil out of her hand without any explanation whatsoever. 

      You lost your cool a little there, and you both know it.

       "Uhhh, bug! A'sright there was a bug, sorry" you fumbled, trying to think of a way to stop her from eating your junk. 

   

    You had been snooping around the house as quietly as you were able after you could no longer hear her shuffling around her room. You were bored and figured she wouldn't mind too much, always better to ask for forgivness than permission right? Or was it the other way around? Either way you were looking.

         The building wasn't as big as the studio had been, not by a long shot, but you couldn't find yourself feeling all that claustrophobic. It was cozy, it felt welcoming- warm, and so you quite happily settled yourself inside.

      It was quite large just for two people though, and the second floor held three more rooms, an empty guest room stripped of any and all furniture. It didn't even have any carpeting, but the fresh flowery patterned wallpaper indicated it was recently freshened up a little.

Next to the barren guest room, there was a small study that seemed to be heavily used, decorated with a deep emerald green rug and rich burgundy walls. A large worktop occupied a large chunk of the floor-space, and was heavy with old-fashioned parchment.

       It looked like someone was interested in writing, from what he could tell, it was the start of a very complicated novel of a science he had never even heard of. He did find himself reading a large portion of it, finding himself entranced by the elegant wording, until he carefully placed it back of it's place on the table, leaving it as undisturbed as if he had never touched it in the first place.

      Just across the hall from the two fully explored rooms, he found what he suspected to be Henry's room. He didn't really know what to feel looking at it, knowing that the person it belonged to would never enter it again. Somehow it felt sad, lonely even, as if the room itself was mourning the loss.

     Shaking your head free of the creeping guilt you weren't sure why you were feeling, you quickly moved away from it, feeling the unease you hadn't previously noticed vanishing with each step you took. That room could wait, it wasn't going anywhere anyway.

     Downstairs, you peeked along the stairwell, feeling your face flush as the sight of Jade's door. You weren't stepping foot anywhere near there if you could help it. You fancied yourself as a gentlemen at heart, that and Jade was actually there and you liked life. You didn't plan on dying yet.

       On the right side of the stairwell was another hall, leading to what appeared to be a bathroom just at the end, with two other rooms without doors lining the corridor to it.

       Just before you could head off in that direction, feeling rather happy about where you had ended up, you spotted a pile of hardcover books in a neat stack sitting on the small stool just outside of the dining room.

      It seemed like such an odd place to just dump them, so with a curious frown, you sauntered your way over to them.

       You were honestly surprised to find cookbooks of all things, having just found a study full of novels and textbooks. It wasn't unwelcome though, since for the large majority of your life the only food you had knows was bacon soup. which didn't even have real bacon, just an imitation for health and safety reasons. Nobody ate it, so the studio was chock-full of the stuff.

       Needless to say, you were interested in sampling the nicer delicacies of the world, and found yourself salivating at the pictures featured in the book. It all looked delicious! You'd never even heard of most of it either, you'd only seen the employees at the studio eating the same sorts of sandwiches and pastries over the years, the sheer variety was mind-boggling.

      Then you had what had felt like the most brilliant idea you'd ever had in your life. Jade often enjoyed eating on a fairly regular basis, just like the humans from Sillyvision. Maybe if you tried some of the recipes, she'd realize how much of an awesome friend you could be! Surely cooking couldn't be all that hard, right?


	24. A little messy

You had been wrong. So so very wrong. You didn't even know how you'd managed to get it all done. Cooking was a lot more difficult than you'd given it credit for, it was so confusing!

       You'd realized the problem almost right away. As while you'd been rooting around for the flour for the pancakes, the cupboard had revealed two boxes of the stuff. Only they were apparently two different kinds, plain and soft. A quick glance at the recipe hadn't really cleared up the difference, since it just said 'flour'. Not any specific type.

      'Plain' had sounded far too boring, so you'd opted for soft, soft was good right? Light and airy, texture and all that, you had this cooking stuff in the bag!

      The next problem had come with the measurements. The recipe had called for one cup of flour, so naturally you had gone straight to the cup cupboard. Easy as pie. Only it wasn't.

      There where, many, many diffrent sized cups in there. All kinds of shapes and sizes, and you'd had absolutely no idea which one was the one you needed, so you'd just swiped the most average sized mug you could see and hoped for the best.

        You had always though of yourself as quite graceful- it came with the buisness of being a talented dancer after all. You always had to know were your limbs were at all times for total control over your movements, and synchronize that with your surroundings.

     Unfortunately for you, kitchens could very quickly turn from clean and obstructive, to cluttered and cramped without  you really noticing. So it came as a nasty surprise to find yourself up to the ankles in filthy dishes and egg shells, leftovers in general.

       So in you attempts to clean away most of the trash, your tail wandered just a little too close to the stove. It took a moment for the searing hot pain to register, but when it did, by god you shrieked. You were surprised that you hadn't woken half the neighborhood.

     With little regard for your surroundings, you darted straight for the sink, dunking your tail straight into the ice cold water you had thankfully filled it with just a few minutes ago. The relief was instant, and you felt your tense muscles sag as the heat melted away, as though nothing had happened in the first place.   

      Said relief was short lived. Very short lived indeed. You were never setting foot near a knife again- you were not cool and graceful at all! Your fingers were bleeding ink like nobody's buisness and you still hadn't managed to cut the cucumbers as neatly as the pictures. The cucumbers themselves looks very odd too, brighter and...not quite right.

      Shrugging, deciding it was close enough, you quickly finished up your work, placing the plates full of fine looking food across the large dining table.

 

On the bright side, most of what you'd experimented with seemed to have worked, it was your first try, it would be unrealistic of you to expect the result to look exactly like the pictures in the books. You figured you'd done well enough, and you were pretty excited to show Jade, you were sure she'd just love it!

       Just as you finished placing the last dish down, you heard the dragging footsteps of the sleepy Jester poking her way into the room, an expression of concern etched onto her groggy face.

_______________

Regardless of the horrific taste, Jade had actually eaten your slop without so much as a grimace, and had gracefully taken the state of the kitchen in stride. Though had made it very clear that you were the one responsible for it.

       

"Bendy, this...this isn't cucumber" Jade had mentioned while nibbling away at the least inedible dish as you were arms-deep in suds.

"W-what? Then what is it?"

"Zucchini"

"...Cooking is hard"

         You'd scrubbed hard at the blackened charcoal that stuck to the pots and pans you had used, groaning at how the muck never seemed to budge. Pretty quickly, the water had become slick with grease, and you'd find yourself changing it  three seconds, trying to keep everything clean.

       Under Jade's watchful gaze, you wiped the entire kitchen clean, fingers stinging in the soapy water. Only stopping when the room sparkled and you could feel the sweat dripping from the back of your neck.

       "Remind me to never, ever, cook again Sweetheart" you groaned, sagging against the counter and to the floor. Not really paying the little pet name you'd blurted out any mind.

       Jade certainly did though, and you felt a smile tug at your lips despite your exhaustion at the look on her face. She looked flustered, as if she didn't know what to make of your terms of endearment that you were very fond of using. It just felt natural, an easy way to express your comfort in someones presence without saying it outright.

     Just before you could comment on the red staining her cheeks, a loud, gurgling rumble pierced the room. Jade just stared at you, and you felt yourself glowing red to the tips of your horns, it seemed karma was very fast-acting today, as your stomach decided it was in the mood to eat. And was very vocal about it.

      To her credit, she did hold her composure for a good solid few seconds, before doubling over in a violent laughing fit. You couldn't hear a peep coming from her, but you didn't really need too to see exactly how hard she was laughing.

       You allowed your face to scrunch up from the humiliation, bottom lip jutting out to form a pout as you crossed your arms defensively. As if that would make the embarrassment go away, which it didn't.

       Jade still seemed unable to stop herself. Oh she'd try, shaking herself sternly and straightening up with a happy smile on her face. Only to freeze for a moment, and then burst out giggling once more. Surely it wasn't that funny.

       "Har-har, laugh it up" you mumbled, covering your abdomen and willing it not to make another peep. 

       Jade shook her head, once again righting herself and taking a deep, calming breath. "Sorry, it's just i've never seen you go that red before"

       When it became obvious to both of you that she could remain calm again, the toon stepped forwards with a confidence you honestly had never seen her express. With a sweeping gesture, she ushered you to the sidelines, backed up against the wall and out of the way.

       "What's up?" and by way of response, the Jester turned back towards you, a large, very sharp looking knife you hadn't seen before catching the light as she grinned.

       "You're hungry, are you not?


	25. A little spice

One thing you were very confident with, was your cooking. You had been absolutely awful when you had first started out, but of course at the time you had thought yourself quite the little chef, proudly brandishing your half-bakes cupcakes and burnt-around-the-edges cookies thinking you were the bees-knees. It was thanks to those early days you had been able to stomach Bendy's meal, though you had chosen not to comment on his lack of appetite.

      Now you had years of experience under your belt, and you felt quite embarrassed yet excited to show you skills to someone who wasn't Henry, or yourself.

       Clutching the handle of your 'special' knife with a firm grip, you set to work gracefully slicing carrots into batons and potatoes into neat, generous chunks, setting them aside in a bowl of cold water as you continued to prepare the vegetables.

      As you worked, you continuously wiped down your worktop surface with a warm, soapy cloth cleaning as you went. Hey it made washing up a lot easier, nothing was worse than finishing a wonderful meal only to look up to a depressing mountain of just mess.

      Every so often, as you were plopping everything into a pot to let it simmer away, you'd chance a glance in the demons direction, only to feel the corners of your lips tug into a small smile at the look of awe on his face. Although it was a little embarrassing, had you been in his place you'd have been pretty impressed. Though you were much more focused on the earthy aroma spilling out into the room from the bubbling pot.

      It was probably one of the best aspect of cooking, at least to you, the diffrent smells that mingled together as you went about. The searing heat of the stove made your eyes sting a little, but it was comfortable somehow, with the low rumbling of the pot providing a smooth background noise.

      "Hey, how'd ya learn how to do all this anyhow?" Bendy piped up, voice starting unusually small before quickly rising to his normal volume. Nodding your head to acknowledge you had heard him. Hmm, perhaps you'd test how much he remembered from his lesson the night before?

     "When I was younger, I was curious about what Henry was eating a lot, so I asked him for a little" you began, being sure to keep your movements slow and clear. You heard him shift a little, only for him to appear at your side a few seconds later. You don't know why, exactly, but you hadn't expected that, so you fumbled a little with you fingers as you stepped to the side a little too forcefully, and your lower back slammed into the desk corner harder than you would have liked. You were certainly going to feel that tomorrow, and likely for the rest of the week too. Ouch.

      If Bendy noticed your little mishap, he didn't comment on it, but you could have sworn you saw  amusement flash across his face, before quickly settling into a neutral expression. "So you learned to cook for him?" 

     "No, I learned to cook for myself" you corrected, placing a hand to your own chest with a grin. "Although I did end up cooking for the both of us a lot eventually" you added, remembering the sheepish look on your creators face after the umpteenth time you caught him sneaking food from the kitchen. You had to stifle a chuckle with your palm, it was rare to see the old man so flustered like that, which made every time it happened all the more delicious. Then you remembered yourself, Henry might never make any face again at all.

       The warm feeling that had filled you just moments before quickly faded to ice, and the mingled emotions of fear, sorrow and guilt settled uncomfortably in the pit of your chest. Was it wrong of you to feel disgusted by his actions? Yet why did you still feel as though you had done something despicable yourself? You couldn't possibly do anything to help him in your condition- Bendy would surely stop you if you tried! Yes, there was nothing you could do, if he was truly a bad person, then you won't have the need to worry much longer, and should he truly be redeemable, then everything will okay. Somehow.

       "Hey? Hey, Kit?", a solid hand on your arm snapped you back to the room, and for a moment you almost didn't recognize your own kitchen. Turning to your side, you found Bendy crouching slightly to meet you at eye-level. He didn't look too happy, in fact you'd never though him capable of making such an expression, then again, there was a lot you hadn't thought him capable of. This person was certainly full of surprises.

      He looked worried, that was for sure, only there was something else to it that had you floundering to put him at ease. His face didn't suit that kind of frown, and putting it there made you feel like you had just used a puppy as a football. Which was a bad thing.

       "...So you cook a lot huh? Gee that sure is somethin', I can't imagine havin' ta clean up all the mess all the time" the inky devil beamed, eyes lighting up so suddenly that you almost jumped. He waved a hand in a sweeping motion to the entire room with a twirl that you couldn't decide was graceful or downright silly. It was actually pretty impressive how fast his face switched from almost gloom to radiant- in the span of seconds.

       Though you had to admit, it wasn't entirely unwelcome, and you happily indulged in his glowing smile, soaking up the happy atmosphere he created like a sponge.

    

      It wasn't too long until you had finished up, plopping a healthy dollop of steaming, fluffy white rice onto a warm plate and an even more generous portion of curry to accompany it. You could smell the strong fragrance of spices from your place across from Bendy, who was currently staring in awe at the plate before him, eyeing the dish with a look that you'd expect a child to give a strange, new animal of some sort.

       "I can eat all this? Ya sure?" he asked, his leg bouncing under the table as his tail swished rapidly behind him through the gaps of the seats so fast it was a blur. "It would be a waste if you didn't" you told him, a playful smile teasing your lips as he nodded, hastily scooping up a bite as shoveling it into his mouth.

     You probably should have thought harder about giving something spicy to a creature who doesn't eat very often.


	26. Dinosaurs?

You probably would have felt a lot more embarrassed by your girlish yelp, runny nose and the tears streaming down your face if you weren't already preoccupied trying to lessen the feeling of your mouth melting off. Your natural reaction had been to breath like a spastic dragon, but you quickly figured out that this was only moving the hot air around over your sensitive nerve endings. So you'd opted for a more plausible strategy- drinking water. Lots and lots of it.

    Jade had, thankfully, noticed your distress without you having to comment on it, talking hurt, and she had gracefully handed you a large glass of water. Which you had accepted gratefully, and had guzzled down frantically, tapping your fist against the table to try and make the pain go away. As if you could force it out of your hand and squash it against the wood. Physics, ladies and gentlemen.

    After downing the glass, you breathed a sigh of relief, and held your fork with renewed vigor. Strangely enough the spicey flavour was moreish, and you felt the urge to continue eating despite the tingling prickle of fire it brought with it. "Whew, that sure had a bite to it- not bad! What is is?" you praised, shovelling another forkfull into your mouth.

   "Curry, and rice, I couldn't think of anything else to make on such short notice", she looked a little sheepish at that, though you couldn't really see why- once you got past the heat, this was by far the best thing you'd ever eaten. Granted you didn't have much by way of reference, but the thought was there. You didn't comment on that though, instead humming in your thoat and continued to fill your stomach. The rice helped to mask the heat, and you found yourself content when the plate was empty, pawing at your face to clean yourself up while listening to Jade clattering about in the kitchen. Apparently she wanted to store the leftovers for another day.

     By the time you had finished up, it was already close to noon, and you where a lot more exhausted then you'd really like to admit. Only you didn't apparently need to admit it, since Jade seemed to see right through you with one look.

    "Want to take a nap?" she offered, awkwardly patting your back and the regret showing on her face as she restricted her hand. You waved it off, much to her very obvious relief, and you stood to follow her into the living room, plopping down onto the sofa just after her. You almost sent her tumbling off with the force, her side of the cushioning puffing up with a small whoosh of air. 

    "Nah, 'f I don't kick the habit now i'll end up nocturnal" you joked, sending the toon sitting across from you a half-grin. She smiled in response, blowing out an airy laugh that made made you feel very self satisfied. Despite it being completely silent, it was rewarding. Leasurly crossing your legs and leaning back, raising your arms behind your head and sighing into a relaxed slump, you watched Jade rub a cautious hand over her injured leg, the makeshift splint of roughly split wood making the flesh underneath look dry and irritated. It looked as though she had made an effort to clean off what looked like mud at some point, though you could still see the brown smudges in the light wood. Her leg looked sore, but at least it wasn't quite as swollen anymore. He'd have to see if there was any ice in the house.

    While you had been staring at her leg, y'know, like a normal person, Jade had switched on the television with a small remote hidden under the coffee table, and had begun flipping through channels while excitedly patting the sofa with her hand. It took another moment to realize what she was asking, geez you needed to start paying more attention. You couldn't help it, and as stupid as it sounded, sometimes you forgot she couldn't speak. "S-sure, sure, I don't mind, put what you like on" you nodded. And it was true, you'd never really had the luxury to indulge in the technology outside the studio, but you certainly knew what television was. Though you must admit you where fascinated by the huge veriety.

     The screen flickered from show to show, each more fascinating looking than the last. There was a sparkling blue expanse of water and the largest swarm of shimmering fish you'd ever seen, then an earth-shattering roar as the air rumbled from the force of- oh geez! That was a T-Rex! Surely you were seeing things right? Sammy always said they were bogus, heck even Henry had told you they'd died out long ago. It flickered once more, though the image only rested on the screen for a fraction of a second before changing once more, settling on a very, very angry sounding man screaming to an equally distressed looking team of people scrambling over eachother to meet his demands. You'd managed to spot the figure of Jade on that screen though, animatedly waving her hands over a group of animated children.

    You were curious about it, but decided to leave it be for now, Jade seemed happy with her decision, and the silence was comfortable. It felt nice, the room was warm and you felt content to just sit and focus your eyes on the screen that was steadily becoming more and more fuzzy. Listening to the silent giggles of the toon beside you and the angry man fading into white noise. 

     The only thing that could make this better, would be if Boris was here to enjoy it with you, and your new best friend- your only friend, in the whole world.

     You didn't even notice the darkness ebbing it's way around the edges of your vision, a series of incoherent grumblings trying to pierce into your consciousness, before you were dead to the world.

     Maybe tomorrow you'd ask Jade to show you what a real, living dinosaur looked like.


	27. Taking chances

The groaning was driving you insane. Or was that thirst? You couldn't really tell. It was so dark, so quiet aside from the deafening whining on the other side of the walls, you felt almost delusional after the long hours you'd spent down here, hours that had actually been days. You'd trade all the food and water in the world just to make the noise stop. You'd scarcely been so terribly frightened in your whole life. What were those things?! How did they go on and on without rest day and night? 

    Your lips felt cracked and dry, and while you felt ravenous with hunger, it was strangely manageable, as if your body knew it could go without for a little while longer. Or maybe it was too distracted by thirst to really care? Probably both. Of course you'd tried to contact help almost as soon as you'd remembered you owned a magical device called a phone. Which took longer than you'd like to admit, only it turned out to be useless anyway, since the thing was busted beyond repair. You couldn't even find where the ON button would be on the scrap that was left, if this was the damage you'd managed to inflict by landing on the thing, Jade was right, you really did need to go on a diet. Unfortunately at this rate, you'd be losing a little too much weight. 

    You were momentarily distracted from you internal misery by the flimsy barricade shaking in a particularly violent shudder. The floorboards under your fingers trembling from the force of whatever it was outside had rammed into the door. Oh damn, oh damn! Your heart skipped several beats, before very nearly stopping altogether- for just a split second, the door cracked open just a peep, enough for you to spot a glimpse of the things outside. And apparently, enough for them to see you too, as they almost seemed to laugh with glee, suddenly so much more boisterous, and a lot more desperate in their attempts to break the whole door down. Something black was starting to seep through the woodwork, spurting through with more force with every bang.

     This was very bad, in fact you'd gander to say it was awful. If you stayed here much longer- that door was coming down, one way or another. You couldn't stay here. 

   Luckily for you, the downtime sitting here in the dark had done something good, and the aches and pains in your body had reduced to dull spasms of a just tolerable pain. Yay for you! Steeling yourself for a very bad day, you pushed yourself unsteadily up to your feet. Old joints settling into much worn sockets and flexing sorely under wrinkly flesh. It felt strange to move in pitch blackness, almost like falling constantly but with your feet on solid ground. Your brain wanted you to stay still to avoid injury while senses other than your sight screamed at you to use them to make up for being effectively blind. You could hear the floor groan under your weight as you moved towards the bottles of cloudy looking water and stale cans of uneaten food you assumed where from the Dusty storage cupboards. And left there on the few occasions you'd allowed yourself to sleep.

     You and your peers often left food in there on the off chance someone forgot lunch and couldn't be bothered to pick up something from town, or for the very late nights in the wonderus world of overtime. Which was usually all of the time. Damn Joey worked you all to the bone.

     Knowing where the offerings came from did little to ease your concerns. Mostly because you didn't know who was leaving it there whilst you slept, and the fact that someone could get into the room uninvited in the first place. If they could get in- then what was stopping the monsters outide from finding their way through the cracks too? 

    Regarding the mysterious identity of the bringer of goodies, you'd half a mind to guess it could have been Joey. Only that wouldn't be right, the guy'd sooner have you starving to death while watching with a bag of popcorn on his knee. You two had never quite seen eye-to-eye, but you'd certainly left on bad terms, to say the least. Regardless of who left it, you were kinda passed caring wether or not it all poisoned or not. If you were getting out, you were going to need all the strength you could get. 

     With shakey fingers, you untwisted the bottle cap, feeling sick with anticipation as you felt the semi-lukewarm water underneath your fingertips. Well, at least if it is poisoned you'd likely get ripped apart before that water got to you. Small comforts and the like. Lovely. Throwing caution to the wind, you guzzled down the whole bottle greedily, and then another one for good measure, relief instant as the wetness spread across your tongue and quenched your dry throat. Oh good lord you'd needed that. You regarded the cans with considerably less enthusiasm, as you knew that even fresh, the studio brand soup was foul. Huh, wonder how a couple years over the expiration date treated the vile stuff. Guess you'd never know. You decided not to tempt fate any further and quite happily left the stack of cans untouched in their corner.

      You'd been very brave taking the chance with the water. As the decision to take your chances getting yourself out, but all the bravery in the world wouldn't be enough to get you out of that door without something of a weapon to defend yourself with. Only the empty room was unfortunately fresh out of stray machetes, and with nothing else to hand, you had little choice other than to brandish a chair leg, which you quickly snapped off of a carefully balanced chair.

Fisticuffs weren't your style anyway.


	28. Out of the frying pan 'n' into the fire

You'd learned two things after the culling it had taken to escape the confines of that lonely prison of a room you had endured. The first, and probably the most useful thing, was that the huge masses of inky monstrosities went down fairly easily, falling apart into congealed lumps after a single well-placed strike of your makeshift weapon.

    The second, was that you where just a little more injured than you had first anticipated. You'd had the brilliant idea to practically burst open the door like a wannabe rhino, shocking the oily black creatures into a split second retreat. Yelping as a chorus as they went. They where almost humanoid-looking. As though half a human torso had taken to popping out of a small puddle in the floor, only made of ink, and looking horrifically melted, almost tumorous under the continuous flow of liquid flowing from somewhere undetermined. The smell was equally horrendous. You liked to think that the smell of your favourite medium was charming- and you felt no shame in declaring that your own creation, being Jade, actually smelled strongly of it herself. But these things smelled far too strongly of ink, the fumes mixing into a noxious miasma of chemicals, with an underlying pungent odor of decay hidden just beneath. Only barely detectable. But it was enough.

      You'd realized the problem after taking out just over a dozen of the things, feeling the rattling wheeze in your chest catch in your throat as the agony flared across your ribs as though scorched by fire. You'd taken that as your cue to abandon your measly assault and take off running, leaving the hallway of maybe three dozen monsters in your dust. 

     The running probably wasn't doing your body much good, though you rationed it'd do you a lot better than a brawling match would have done. So you kept running, twisting and turning in the maze that you didn't remember. Deep in the very dregs of the studio- if this still even was the studio. The pathetic stream of light that had dimly lit your safe haven quickly petered out before you'd even turned the far corner, and now you where running in near-blackness. Praying and hoping you wouldn't knock yourself silly in the process. Since you could still hear company fast approaching-- just a footstep behind maybe. Three if you were being generous to yourself.

       As you ran, you were vaguely aware of feeling things clipping at your body, as though you were just missing objects strewn in your path. Passing furniture that could have otherwise sent you sprawling by pure chance. Only this told you that there, in fact, was furniture littering the hallways to block your path. Which meant that any second now, you could fall. Or smash into something. Really a number of things that all ended in you getting hurt. Or worse.

      Now, another problem you faced as you ran, lungs sucking in air that your old muscles screamed for-- was that you weren't quite as young as you once were. Hell you were pushing Sixty years old and you weren't exactly in the best of shape. You probably could have passed as Santa Clause if you were being really honest with yourself, even without a costume. You could feel your heart palpitating dangerously in your chest. Pulse throbbing in your throat so hard it threatened to make you gag, wrinkled eyes searching frantically in the void for a place to shake the gurgling abominations clawing for your ankles.

    The property itself was much more ancient than you. And it showed. Or at least it would have, had you been able to see it. But you could certainly feel the uneven terrain below your feet, dips and bumped in the warped woodwork. This place was old, older than you remembered, maybe even older than the studio that you did. And you briefly considered that perhaps this had been hidden under the familiar structure all along, though the duration it's usage was unclear, but it seemed as far as you could guess that the workshop had been built on top of the remains of something else. As the workshop had never had any sort of visible inclination of this place's existence. Or it had been hidden. You couldn't decide right now which scenario was more likely. Nor which one you preferred. But neither were really important right now.

    From what you could tell as you continued to blindly throw yourself through winding corridors, the groaning behind you had been growing increasingly fainter. Not quite growing further away but as though there were less in hot pursuit- perhaps some had lost interest? No, more likely they'd taken a wrong turn at some point. Still, you couldn't stop yet.

    You felt sick. Very sick. The wave of ill seemed to wash over you as you took notice of it. Not just sick in the sense that you felt bile rising in your throat, but a bodily sick. Like you knew that something was wrong, the fatigue and the ache in your muscles that wasn't entirely the fault of your little accident. Of course nothing could go smoothly, that would be too convenient. You were beginning to regret being so careless around the little devil. You knew he wasn't quite as alright as he had feigned- you had bloody created the damn little shit. He'd always been a vindictive kind of fellow, pretty quick to hold a grudge, and he'd been so...wrong, you really didn't know what you had expected. You'd scarcely ever seen him so jittery, though hadn't you known him for so long you'd have no doubt fell for his little act. In essence, you actually had, but you felt a small sense of pride in knowing something hadn't been right. At least you had that to save your hurt pride and questionable common-sense.

     Though really, you had to wonder what the hell Joey had been thinking with all of this. You'd questioned his little decisions many a times, too many, apparently- mostly the reason why'd you'd "left" on nasty terms. You couldn't quite understand why or when you'd both stopped seeing eye-to-eye, hell you'd once considered the guy to be family, or as damn close as it could really get, once upon a time. When had it all gone wrong? Probably not the best time to ponder that nugget, escaping with your ass intact is the number one priority. Not number two.

     The blackness was actually starting to make your mind play tricks on you by the time the excited gurgling behind you faltered. But even though the noises stopped you refused to stop running- even despite the painful gasping mess you'd been reduced to. You'd much rather avoid whatever fate those amalgamations could have in store for you at the cost of your lungs. You could have sworn that you saw something bright flickering across your vision in the dark. Pinpricks of light dancing just out of sight through passing hallways, casting a ghostly glow across the walls.

     It was only as you actually ducked into a hallway full of the small specks of light that you realized that they, were in fact, candles. All in various states of use, but all sharing the same murky pale wax, with small flecks of rubble marring their features. As though they'd been recycles and reused for years on end. Though despite their decrepit appearance, the dim illumination was very much appreciated. It did take your old eyes a few minutes to adapt to the small light, and thankfully there was just enough light to see by, though you could have done without those...very, very unsettling shadows cast by the small flames. 

    The smell of burning flames masked the mildewey smell just a smidge, though you could still feel the damp in the room. The stale air settling heavily in your lungs as your body demanded the oxygen it was due, but you tried to keep your heaving quiet, pressing the dusty sleeve of your jacket against your nose and mouth. Savoring the moment of rest.

    Then it clicked. Who had lit the candles? You froze, body stiff with terror, as your eye caught sight of the writhing shadows, that had been creeping ever so slightly, to wrap around your quivering legs


	29. Favours and newfound phobias

You couldn't really describe your relationship with bendy too well. Though you'd hesitate to call him a friend, you'd not known one another for too long, and that short span of time had been full of surprises, both good and bad. No, you'd call it more of a... Dependence. With Henry gone, you only had one person left, and he was it. And you admitted to that, though you still felt more comfortable saying that he was a friend. You truly did enjoy his company, you truly did think well of him, though these thoughts bordered on admiration.

    You couldn't help it- at one point he had been your idol. A quick-witted multitalended extrovert that lit up the screen just as much as your eyes, and he was alive- just like you. How couldn't you have adored the guy? And Hendy had plenty of stories to tell. Though now you had actually met him, he was...diffarent. In a good way, just, underwhelming, but that seemed to just make him more appealing. More real, genuine. A true idol that you could fangirl over to your hearts content. At least inside, because anything otherwise would be weird. You think. You weren't really sure, you didn't do people very well. Hence your reclusive lifestyle. Which also didn't help since yoy never got the oppertunity to practice interacting with people but nevermind that isn't important right now.

    Regardless, you still very much saw the toon as a star. He was a lot more muted in person, which made sense, though he was just as bubbly and curios as you remembered. Sharp yet slow in all the right places, though the bluntess of his words occasionally caught you off guard- sometimes he seemed to ignore the filter between his mouth and his brain. It surprised you even more so as you liked to consider yourself very well-mannered, to the point of being a little too polite at times. But you attributed this to having plenty of time to choose your words, as you lacked the ability to blurt them out as you thought them. Now that you think about it, you probably should be angry at the guy, for the whole nearly-killing-you thing, and taking away your only family in the world too. But somehow you couldn't quite find the energy for it, you'd never been very good at holding grudges. 

    One thing was for certain, the last few days had very much taken it out of you. So much had happened in contrast to your usual unevetnful routine. You'd met your hero after taking a fall that probably should have killed you- splintered your leg, been terrified by said hero and then built an uneasy comradie before watching the guy do a complete one-eighty and shoving your creator down a death-pit. Then somehow ended up all the way back home. You still couldn't quite believe he'd hauled you the whole way here by complete coincidence. The whole lot was entirely improbable, and had someone told your past self of a few short weeks ago you'd have most likely been amazed that someone had actually approached you. And then laughed at the nutjob who was trying to spin such a daft tale. Life sure was one heck of a rollercoaster.

    You were momentarily distracted from your internal monologue when you felt the paper under you slide from underneath your forearm. Startling slightly, only to look up blearily and find Bendy studying the parchment with deep interest, furrowing at his nonexistent eyebrows. The pen you had been using had seeped through the paper a little, leaving blotchy looking splotches littering its underside.

     "This is really good Kit-- did you do this?" he marvelled as his eyes studied the parchment.

      It took a few seconds of silence for him to remember that you couldn't speak. Then he jolted a little and lowered his gaze, focusing on you with an apolagetic grin.

     "I did, I am an animator after all, would be pretty embarassing if I wasn't up to scratch" you boldy stated, a smug twinkle in your eye at the confidence entirely unlike you, that you portrayed. The dancing devil seemed off-put by that, but the corners of his mouth turned upwards nonetheless. Amused.

     "I didn't realise you animated it yourself, your show I mean, I just figured you got the old man to take care of it for ya"

    You sniffed. "I do the drawing nowadays, Henry gave that up a couple of years ago when his hands couldn't stay steady. He narrates" at least, he did. You hadn't really thought how you'll get around him being gone. You can't do it yourself...but you knew who could.

     You gave Bendy a look, and all of a sudden he looked nervous. Eyes flickering side to side, as if there was someone else in the room that you had randomly decided to stare at intently. The doofus.

     "Can I ask a favour of you?"

   "...Depends on the favour?" he said, though it was more of a question than an answer. 

    You handed him part of a script, folded over halfway, and tapped along the midsection. "Read this?" you requested, as he took hold of the paper, squinting at the spidery scrawls.

    He made a face, but cleared his throat loudly, and began reading, jumping as you commanded him to read it out loud this time. He did so.

     "Jade? What is it you've got there?" he began, voice chipper, with pauses and raises in pitch in all of the right places. He wasn't quite as good as Henry was, his voice lacked the finesse that you were used to, though as he progressed, you realised it had a mature quality to it that you hadn't first expected. It wasn't...perfect, but it was close, and it would be a fine replacement. That was, if he would do it.

     When he finished, he swiveled his eyes back towards you, tail resting on the desk as he had hopped up to sit on it at some point. The solid wood barely creaked under his weight, the smell of the polish had long since left its mark on the room. He must have seen the starry eyed look in your eyes, as he spoke up. Just mildly concerned.

    "Would you please please, please, narrate for my next productions? I'd really appreciate it?" you pleaded, sticking your bottom lip out in an mock attempt to look sad. It had the desired effect, but Bendy still looked a little unsure as he nodded, "ya sure i'll do? can't y--oh shoot right you can't--". He rubbed the back of his head with one hand, the other mythering the bow tie at his neck. He was being oddly bashful about this, which contrasted the usual comfortable nature he practically oozed. Comfortable in his own skin, you mean.

      You managed to convince him after the promise of watching a few of the movies he'd been poking at earlier that morning. For some reason, the guy had been hooked on dinosaurs recently.

_________

 

Bendy stood by the open door nervously, shoulders hunched up around his jaw, tail swishing behind him in agitation. He eyed the outside with the fear of a mouse facing down a hungry feline, as though the very scale of the world just a footstep away frightened the life of him. He didn't budge, and you blew out an exaspareted sigh, manouvering your stance on the doorstep to accomadate your stiff, sore leg. Which was sitting lamely at your side, your weight instead balanced on your good side.

     "Come on Bendy, I promise you, you'll be fine" you soothed, hands raised in a placating gestgure as the toon in front of you visably considered his options. You'd realised you had been running low on supplies earlier that morning, taking a break from working on your tablet to root around for the paint you kept in a neat little drawer under your bed. A handful of the small tubes were squeezed dry, that, and you needed to fill up on groceries for the week. So you'd felt that that now was the time to restock-- and that meant a quick trip I town.

    It wasn't very often you visited the market just a short walk away, for such a small community that place got fairly busy. People had never really been your thing, and not being human didn't really help the keeping attention off of you thing. Suprisising huh? People would stare, and children would go wild. Being the face of your own- fairly succesful- kids cartoon show, who knew it would draw crowds? Heh, draw. You smiled a little at your own pun, before snapping back to reality. Reality being the cartoon demon clinging to the side of the doorframe, wheezing with eyes as round as tennis balls.

      "B-but what 'bout the folk walkin' 'round the store? They'd trap us in a heartbeat Kit that's what humans do" he reasoned, the stammer in his voice very present, as he waved the arm not currently with a death-grip on the frame around for emphasis.

    You snickered despite the situation. "It's fine, i've done this before. People think it's- cosplay? I think that's what it's called now, dress up, just tell them it's a promotional thing and they'll mostly leave you alone--", you hesitated a fraction, "well, maybe the adults will, you'll likely be swarmed by the little ones".

     The devil seemed to soften a little at that, but his body language was still much too tense, and he didn't show any intention of leaving the doorway. You huffed. Sod this, you could do this all by yourself. What could possibly go wrong?

      "Alright, you stay put, i'll see you in an hour or so, please lock the door behind me alright?", you tossed him the keys, "don't get into too much trouble while i'm gone".

    The toon balked as you turned heel and began limping down the driveway, tripping over himself to try and get you to turn around. Yet the barrier of the doorstep proved too much for him, and he hovered at the threshhold anxiously. And by the time he placed a tentative foot on the driveway, you were long gone, cheerfully strolling down the pathway, cane in hane, towards the shopping district.


	30. It's amazing what thirty years can do to a place

You felt the ghastly fingers closing around the clammy flesh of your ankle just as the flames flickered. Revealing the many, many forms camouflaged as shadows, writhing in the real shadows, giving the wall the appearance of breathing. As though the hallway itself was a living being, which it wasn't.

 

     Panicking, you kicked at the gooey substance, which, for a liquid, had a fairly strong grasp on your trapped limb. So, in your haste to wrestle your leg free, you ended up tangling your own legs together and face-planting straight into the floor. The velvety black mass of living ink taking the opportunity to crawl its way up along your body. 

     Kicking at it didn't seem to do much, as it simply parted to allow your foot through, only serving to dig your appendage deeper into the mess. Which, in turn seemed to be trying to absorb you into itself. Others slithering at an agonizing pace to join the party. Now what? Sticking your boot into it's face didn't seem to be an option. So there was really only one thing for it.

    You flipped over onto your stomach with minimal difficulty, and began using your arms to haul yourself along the floor. Moving like a beached seal at a snails pace against the rough wooden planks. Splinters digging themselves into the soft, aging flesh of your-- well, everything. Damn, that smarted, but it sure as hell beat ed drowning in goo. 

   It even seemed to be working, somewhat. The grip around your legs was unfaltering as ever, but you seemed to be slowly pulling away from the main body. The shape of a torso slowly stretching out, and gradually breaking apart like gum. Allowing you to pull your legs, which were firmly knitted together, under yourself, pushing yourself upwards and bunny-hopping for your life. Then quickly realizing that you had neither the stamina, nor the physical capability to keep at it for longer than three minutes. Damn it, you should have listened to Jade about that gym membership she'd been trying to push on you. Why hadn't you listened? Maybe if you'd taken her advice, you'd be in a little better shape than...well, this. Then again, to be completely fair on yourself, you'd never expected that your life would ever depend on your physical prowess. Or lack of.

      It was only another few minutes of this disaster, that you found yourself standing in a fairy well-lit room. More candles placed around the borders of the room, revealing a large set of disturbingly drawn scrawls painting the floor. It looked to be some kind of cultist pentagram, the coffins stacked vertically against the walls only adding to the macabre picture. What the hell was this place? It was starting to feel like some sort of pocket dimension. Entirely separate from your own reality.  
         Before you had the opportunity to think about much else, you heard the sickening groaning fast approaching from behind. you noticed a sharp glimmer out of the corner of your eye, commanding your attention for all of three seconds- and then leaving you to double take. Eyes returning to the source of the glare reflecting the rooms light, the culprit being a large, very menacing looking axe, propped up against the far side empty door frame. Without dwelling much more on the matter, you struggled your way towards it, snatching it from its home and threw yourself face first into the closest coffin that would accommodate your size. Carefully sliding its lid into place just as the first dripping, black hand emerged from the corridor that you, yourself, had just come from.  
       With the small offered hiding place came the darkness, the price for being almost entirely hidden being that you were robbed of sight to any oncoming dangers. your limbs felt like jelly with the strain you'd put them under for the past couple of hours, coupled with the constant, nagging stress of keeping yourself alive. That also had an effect. Yeah...geez, you really weren't having the best of luck these days. 

     With little else to do, you waited with bated breath for the danger to pass. The culminated mass of monsters tore into the room much faster than you'd remembered, or expected, it moving. Stumbling, tripping over it's own many, many appendages in a disorganized manner just to put one foot in front of the other. All of it's limbs pulling in every direction in a pathetic attempt of coordination. They, or 'it', was breathing raggedly in unison, the strangled noise sounding something reminiscent of a growl. The noise sounding frustrated at best, hinting at some form of cognitive thought, as it recognized that it had lost sight of its prey. You heard it snuffle around the room with far too many heads, a monster of a thousand inky, distorted faces. Resting a fraction just outside of the thin piece of wood separating you from imminent death. 

      Every muscle in your body tensed at the realization of your proximity to the beast. Fat beads of sweat trickling down your face, into your eyes and down your neck. Clutching your very much upgraded arsenal of a single axe with one hand, the other occupied with crushing against your nose and mouth. Silencing the heaving breath of your old, overworked lungs in favor of not giving yourself away. It must have grown bored after a few beats, as it slowly began making it's way towards other, more intriguing for whatever reasons, places.

      Your sweaty palms quivered, and for a heart stopping moment, the blade of the axe knocked against the hard interior of your hiding place. The soft noise gaining the attention of the beast outside, and you heard it snap it's attention back towards you. The noises completely halting, the silence itself terrifying you much more than the ghastly noises ever could. You heard impressively light footsteps, slowly approaching your hiding place. Each step, deliberate and precise, as though to mock you, and your fear.

    It stopped just shy of your little hole, and, with a very, very loud flourish, it flung one of the coffins beside you across the room. The lack of living flesh inside further serving to enrage the fiend. The last thing your heard of it being an almighty howl of displeasure, before it retreated back from where it had crawled from.

      Now, despite everything, you weren't completely stupid. You didn't even consider stepping from your little safety-hobble until you were good and sure, that nothing was lurking around the corner. Waiting for you to slip up. You sat, trembling, in that coffin for a good thirty minutes, for good measure. At least, it seemed, that abomination had decided to take the path from where you'd just come from, rather than head to where you're going. Wherever that was. Either way, it was a hell of a lot more convenient for you. Not having that thing waiting around any corner.

    Once you decided the going was as safe as safe was going to get, you shakily pushed against the lid. Quietly easing the degrading hinges open and shut once more. You took one last look at the path behind you, steeling yourself for what was ahead. Surely, it couldn't be much worse than what had been on offer so far, right? Maybe that thing was all that was left to fear, for all you knew, that thing was it. Everything else could be a cakewalk! At least you wouldn't be fumbling about in the dark anymore. Thinking ahead, you plucked a candle up off of the ground, the wax acting like a glue of sorts, yet giving pretty easily. With this, no matter how dark it got, if the candles dwindled out, you'd have at least some light.

      Using you new-found weapon to cut away at the bindings at your ankles, you kicked off the coagulated slime to continue forwards. The absurd amount of candles guiding the way for you. Seriously, who the hell had the time to light these things? Must've been a damn pain, wonder how many matchsticks it took? This was why you only kept emergency candles, well, that and the bad habit you had of leaving them burning unattended. Jade had really blown her top when you'd scorched a large portion of her mini-library. 

     Carefully stepping down a small staircase, you found that one pathway had, unfortunately, been blocked up, due to the freakin hallway having- for some reason or another, caved in. No joke, the ceiling and floor had merged into a sandwich of debris. That made sense, y'know, because apparently spontaneous cave-ins were commonplace in a building that was reasonably structurally stable in an area with little to no natural disasters. It looked like the damage had been done a fairly long time ago too, as there where deep, nasty looking scuff marks on the surviving beams, most likely from years and years worth of weight, sinking the rubble down ever so gradually. Leaving scars upon the once beautiful oak supports. Hopefully that pathway wasn't- or rather, hadn't been, the exit.

       Looking forwards, you saw that the branching rooms and pathways seemed to have just...stopped. Instead, the hallway turned to the left up ahead, but there really wasn't much else to sniff at, except, the message 'he will set us free', scribbled messily on the wall, a life-sized Bendy cutout smiling eerily beside it. Staring at you with glassy, unseeing eyes. Other than that, there wasn't really anything particularly interesting.

     "How did this place get so big?" you mumbled to yourself, studying the area with a scrutinizing eye. You really didn't remember this place at all.

      You found an old cassette tape slotted into a player that had been propped up against the wall, sitting at eye-level on a wide shelf. After a moment of deliberation, you pressed the play button, figuring that there was no harm in a little 'recon', heh, maybe it'd even be something useful.

     Almost immediately the voice that began seeping from the speakers clicked within your mind. You might not recognize this place, but you certainly knew who this voice belonged to-- Sammy, Sammy Lawrence. He'd worked as the director of the music department back in the day, a pretty foul tempered man, pleasant enough, on days when his work was going smoothly anyway. You'd enjoyed talking to him those days. The faulty pipes had often been a cause for complaint for the poor guy, the drainage pump button being located smack dab in the middle of his office, meaning that he'd be interrupted every ten minutes by people dashing in and out of his work-space. Something that seemed to really grind his gears, not that you could really blame him, he was a busy man, and had the roles been reversed, you reckoned you'd have gotten pretty riled up by the situation too. Didn't make listening to his ranting and raving in the break-room any easier though. 

    "He appeared from the shadows to rain his sweet blessings upon me" Sammy began, tone chillingly...involved. Not the bordering-hysterical, constantly irritated tone you were used to. He sounded cold, detached from himself. "The figure of ink that shines in the darkness. I see you, my saviour. I pray you hear me", okay, this was all sorts of wrong. And suddenly you felt all to aware of the weird symbols scrawled into the floor and walls you'd spotted earlier. They'd looked like something straight out of a cult, and Sammy was speaking like its preacher.

    "Those old songs. Yes, I still sing them for I know you are coming to save me. And I will be swept into your final loving embrace. But love requires sacrifice, can I get an amen?", you stood, staring at the old tape. One arm folded across your stomach, the other pressed hard against your mouth. Sucking in a breath to steady your suddenly disturbed nerves, you shook your head, choosing instead to move on, rather than focus on the old, twisted relics of the past. The place had apparently gone to shite when you left, you briefly wondered how everyone else had ended up.  

    A little further on, you found that the floor dipped inwards a little, a perfect container for the flood that had taken residence there. The congealed ink stagnant and thick. Scrunching your nose at the fumes, you waded carefully through the mess, sighing at the awful feeling of wetness soaking into your shoes, socks becoming fully saturated with the liquid.

     You were so focused, in fact, on the unpleasant sensations in between your toes, you almost completely missed the human figure passing through up ahead. Only a silhouette of black visible within the light, murmuring as it stepped out of view again.

   Half of you was wary to spot another human down here, especially with the whole ink-monster malarkey going on. You didn't really know if you wanted to meet anyone still standing down here, especially if that turned out to be Drew. But you reasoned that, in this situation, banged up and hungry, being hunted by monstrosities that hell forgot, approaching anyone might be the only chance at getting the heck outta here you had. Besides, that causal trot was probably the most relaxed you'd ever seen anyone walk in your life, so surely whoever could be that calm in here must be doing pretty well for themselves-- and you sure as shit wanted in on that.

    Jeez, if you--no, when you got out of this hellhole, you were gonna give that demon a real good thrashing. Or at least a good tongue lashing. What the hell, at least in the meantime you had plenty of time to make up your mind.


	31. New friends?

Okay. Maybe you felt just a touch guilty for leaving the poor sap skulking at the front door--but in all fairness you really needed to get out and get groceries. Yknow, before you starved to death even though you didn't really need to eat but darn tootin did you want to. Hot chocolate was a necessity in life! Okay maybe you should have been a teensy bit more patient. Oh well, it was done now, besides, you would have plenty of tine to help him get over... Whatever that mess was when you got back. 

 You really had to wonder though, what had gotten over him you mean. What had happened to the excited-to-be-free Bendy just, what? A couple of days ago now? You'd have thought if anything he'd be claustrophobic after everything, not agoraphobic. Then again, even you were perceptive enough to see you hadn't been told everything, but still. 

 You'd opted to bring Henry's spare cane with you, as your leg was still pretty freshly broken, and your knee wasn't handling the strain well at all. The joint crackled with each step, and your grin slowly morphed into a pained grimace at the sensation. Lips pressed tightly together in a thin line as you hobbled down the street in a poor imitation of a stroll. It hurt, but it was manageable. Boy, the things you'd do for chocolate--and art. Only, art really was a necessity since art was part of your job, and your job payed the bills, and you kinda needed to pay the bills to keep the house. That and electricity, since the large majority of your actual work was digital nowadays, but you always preferred drafting it all out in good old fashioned ink. 

 Rounding the corner, you finally left the general neighbourhood of semi attached houses. Leaving behind the sea of dainty red roofed buildings with matching patchworked bricked walls. An attractive neighbourhood, that is if you payed much attention to such details. The gardens were also fairly well cared for, small patches of green strewn with quite feminine choices of flora and fences, even in spite of its inhabitants. 

 Being on just the edge of the suburbs of a family small town, you reached the stalls for the marketplace fairly easily. You weren't really here for it, you were headed for the supermarket just a half hour's walk away, but that didn't stop you from snooping around a few stalls. One in particular that smelled so strongly of sweet things, that sold the most beautiful rosy red apples you'd ever seen. Shining just right in the sunlight. 

 If you bought some now though, you'd be carrying them around with you all day. Hmm, would you remember to buy some on the way back? More importantly, would you be able to carry everything back home by yourself? Dammit. You really hadn't thought this through, maybe you should go back and hope and pray Bendy had a miraculous change of heart. No, that'd put far too much pressure on the poor guy, and you didn't doubt he'd feel guilty enough seeing you struggle with them as it was without going back to ask him for help he probably couldn't provide. You huffed, reluctantly resolving yourself to the fact you'd have to tough it out. 

 As you limped your way along the roads, a few of the neighbourhood kids stopped to say hi. They often did, and the lack of a Henry at your side did not go unnoticed. Nevertheless, they seemed thrilled to see you out and about, commenting how amazing your "costume" was in resemblance to their favourite cartoon. As always, they still asked to see under it, and if they could try it on too, but you gently declined, quipping that you'd have no clothes on otherwise. They laughed, and let the matter be, and soon you were ushering them off to continue their play. Smiling fondly as they squealed, rambunctious laughter filling the air as they trotted away in they small cluster, playing tag whilst darting through the crowd of grown-ups that might as well had been giants. 

 You were just about to follow before you halted. Just across the street, was a series of alleyways, fracturing in the general direction you needed to be. Now, any other time, you would have deemed that going astray to such a shady looking area was a bad thing to do, however, your leg hurt, and it was broad daylight. You didn't really like the idea of walking the long way around. Besides, if anything got too creepy, you were just a stones throw away from a whole street full of well-to-do people. 

 Mind made up, you changed course towards the dreary, washed out looking crevices that the sun didn't reach. Unwise to the small cluster of men that had taken to follow you lead, cutting inconspicuously throughout the crowd to fall into step behind you. 

_________

    You were miserable. Completely and utterly. You'd been dithering around the damn doorstep like a...a...dammit! You couldn't even think of a witty metaphor. Well, you'd been staring at the ground outside for a long time, anyway, and then you'd decided you'd grown tired of that, and slumped to the floor in a dead sulk. Arms crossed and staring crossly at the ground right in front of you, as if staring angrily enough would suddenly make you able to put the sole of your foot onto it.

    You blew out a sigh, shoulders caving in even further and bunching your knees up under your chin. Tail swishing impatiently behind you. This sucked, it really did--you'd just become truly free, to go wherever you wanted, and now you were stuck. Not because you didn't want to. No, but because you couldn't. Looking out into the world, it was so, so much bigger than... everything, you were used to. Your soul itched to explore, to pick over every stone and nook and cranny, but you couldn't. 

     The world was something new, and something that didn't have you in it yet. It didn't have a place for you to slot into yet, you didn't know the rules, the unspoken laws that governed the ground under the blue, and you didn't have a clue in the slightest how to claw that slot out for yourself. It was unfamiliar, and that, by itself, was terrifying.

     "Well, ain't this just a kick in the crotch" you grumbled to yourself, horned head buried in the crook of your arm, only slightly registering the odd feel of fabric against your cheek. Oh yeah, you were wearing clothes. Heh, Jade had even promised to treat you to your own wardrobe too, why did it feel like every time you were beginning to enjoy something, it'd get ripped out from under you? Hell, why did you have to go through all this? You hadn't done anything wrong. Yeah! Why the heck should you be the one sitting here like a sad sack of potatoes? You should be out there, doing whatever the heck you wanted! Yeah! That's what you'd do. Screw fear, you'd kick fear right in the teeth before you let it keep you down. You were Bendy. The damn Dancing Demon for Christ's sake! You were the defenition of good times, and by hell would you give that title up just because of some stupid brain fart your mind was spouting.

      Jumping to your feet in a movement smoother than butter on glass, you cheerfully went to step over the threshhold. Foot wavering just short of actually making contact on the steps.

      Eh, who were you kidding? You couldn't do this.

    With a huff of hot air, you stomped back into the house. Then sprinted straight out of the door, taking a running leap and landing in a messy heap in the bushes. Back smacking against the fence's metal bars, struggling to contain the greenery. Gasping and heaving with both the effort of moving your body so fast that you practically flew a few seconds worth of feet, as well as the mini heart attack you were suffering at partially overcoming the fear bestowed upon you by your own brain. 

 You felt paralysed for a few more seconds before your muscles unlocked, and you sagged against what remained of the bush in relief. 

 You'd done it. You felt wrecked and ready to toss cookies but you'd still done it. Heck, you felt brilliant! Amaz--yep you were definitely gonna puke. Scrambling to flip over onto your knees, you wheeze at the feeling of your stomach flipping, knotting up inside of you. You felt as though you were gagging in the back of your throat, the nauseating sensation only threatening to make the situation worse. The more you focused on the feeling, the more you seemed to want to empty your stomachs contents into the prettily kept pathway, and you absent-mindedly noted that in your haste to not hurl all over yourself you'd ended up trampling a small group of mixed coloured flowers. Tiny budding white bushels being the only plant to escape your weight, the once beautiful purple, yellow and crimson flowers beneath you crushed beyond repair. You barely even registered the wet muzzle nuzzling at your shoulder. 

 You remained as still as your quaking limbs would allow, waiting for it to pass, which it did. Eventually. Though now you really just wanted to crawl back inside and take a nap. Though your curiosity got the better of you-- only just, but it was enough. You really wanted to find Jade, oh boy, the look on her face. You wondered if she'd be pleased. 

 Pushing yourself up onto your feet was more of a challenge than you were willing to admit. 

 Without stopping to wait in case you changed your mind, you hopped over the fence and onto the sidewalk. Landing with a quiet grunt and strolling down the road following after Jade with the bravado of a thousand men that were particularly egotistical even though your legs still felt like jelly. Yelping when an unidentified furry figure barked shrilly as it made to follow. 

Your breath came a little too sharply, and a strange shrieking kind of noise blew past your lips as the form bounded up on its hind legs to knock you back down again. You noted ears and a huge paw on your chest as you blinked away the stars. Shaking off the dizzy spell to find--the biggest damn dog you'd ever seen in your life sitting quite happily on top of you. Wearing an expression that told you he was far too pleased with himself. 

But dang it if that wasn't the fluffiest thing you'd ever seen. Plus it was a dog. You'd always wanted to pet a dog. 

 Wasting no time, you practically tore yourself off of the pavement to plant your face directly in the beasts belly. Making a victorious noise in celebration of your catch. The dog seemed to enjoy all of the attention you had to offer though, as soon you heard what sounded like a grunt, and the giant was suddenly spread across the ground with its tongue lolling out its mouth, belly exposed and awaiting scratching. Which you were more than happy to provide. Snickering at the gentle giants blissful panting as you ran your fingers through it's thick chocolate coloured fur. 

 "Aww hey buddo! Where'd you come from?" you cooed, not really expecting an answer but waiting a beat for one anyway. Before deciding, no, dogs definitely couldn't talk. You'd seen the cartoons, and this guy was definitely not made of ink. Nah, he was aaall floof. 

 After a few minutes of fawning over the big guy, you reluctantly pushed yourself up to your knees. The pooch whining in protest before following suit, sitting neatly in front of you with an upset expression. Heh, no collar. That meant he was a stray, right? Or maybe he got loose when he wasn't wearing it? But what if he was a lone wolf? Hmm, this really was a conundrum. 

 You scritched behind his ears as you stood, smirking at the contented rumble you received in appreciation. Well, if he was someone's boy, surely they'd come looking? There was no harm in letting him stick around until then. Right? 

You decided not to think on it any further. Setting off with a snort as you heard the padding of humongous paws following in step behind you. Hey, he'd chosen to follow, that was not your problem, you didn't dictate his life, he was his own ma--dog that, uh, right, he was a, a dog but he was his own dog! 

 It briefly occurred to you that you had absolutely no idea where it was that Jade had gotten off too in the... Thirty minutes? Yeah, thirty minutes, that she'd been separated from your line of sight. Then again, you'd had no idea where her home was and you'd somehow ended carrying her there by pure chance, so you were fairly confident that the odds were very much in your favour here today. 

 The neighbourhood was like a maze. Tightly backed despite being relatively open and spacious, but the streets twisted and turned in a one way street. A few pathways broke off to branch in different directions, though notably always seemed to have at least one opening branching to the left, so that's where you headed. Surely somewhere important would warrant this graciously provided access right? 

 You weren't really all that keen on running into anybody, but a small part of you was excited to meet a new face. You'd spent so long wishing that you could meet some of the people of the people you'd been created to entertain, but a bigger part of you held too much distrust for you to talk yourself out of feeling the sickly butterflies of your stomach tying itself into knots. That was reasonable right? It was only natural to be a little cautious, besides, look what had happened last time you let your guard down around humans. You had every right to play it safe. 

 Feeling that you'd justified your fear to yourself, and feeling only mild self mortification at how chicken you knew you were acting. You continued forwards, stepping out into a very suddenly bustling street. You wondered how you hadn't heard it before you'd walked headfirst into it, but then again you'd not really been listening for anything. Head too jumbled with your anxieties. Yeah, you felt a little startled. You'd just finished telling yourself to lay low and then poof! People appeared! Geez, with all these people it was a wonder if half the town wasn't milling in this one--area. Though just as you finished that thought, you took note of the sign pointing right to the town plaza, which was apparently just a few blocks away from where you stood. 

 Stepping into that plethora of people was a lot harder, but also a lot easier than you thought. Especially when a furry muzzle to your behind was what startled you into taking it.  Your stomach plunged as you staggered messily into the crowd, but even though the fear was very much still there, you found yourself very easily distracted by the sights that took your immediate attention. 

 Of course, your apparently unusual appearance did attract quite a few odd glances, but not much more than that. In fact, after the initial flicker of interest, people's curiosity apparently sated, and they mostly left you to yourself, which was a huge relief. Though you barely even noticed, too busy yourself admiring the bustling booths dotted around the marketplace. 

 You'd heard of places like these, in your earlier years. All second hand of course, you'd never seen them yourself before today, but you'd pictured it. You pictured it with the limited word knowledge you'd had at the time, with the largest groups of people you'd ever known to exist filling stands of basic bits and bobs you'd seen the employees carrying--though those pitiful imaginations didn't hold a candle to this. There must've been at least over twenty stalls, all filled to the brim with merchandise that you'd never even seen before. One particular caught your eye, bright rosy red apples decorated with a glossy sheen in the midday sun, fruits of all shapes and sizes sitting either side. The sweet aroma of their oils dancing tantalisingly in the air, so much so that you soon found yourself salivating a few steps away. The clerk offered you an unnerved smile, but you shook the distraction from your mind, allowing your eyes to wander over the various goods of less edible nature among other businesses. 

 It was just as you were prodding at something squishy and rubbery looking that the familiar jingle of a certain someone's jesters had caught your attention. It was soft, barely audible amongst the general chatter of the crowd, but it was there. A soft, tinkling metallic sound, and as you turned your head to the sound, the bright rose coloured prongs of Jade's hat were visible, just poking around the corner of one of the far off alleyways. Bell swaying up and down with her movements. 

Well, how about that? Maybe you were in luck! You immediately took off towards it, the four legged friend shadowing you with rapt attention, a new spring in your step. Chuckling slightly as you did so, why was it that you couldn't stop thinking of how much Jade's hat resembled those apples you'd been drawn too just a second ago? You'd have to mention that to her. You'd never had apples before, and now you really had a hankering for trying something new, and they looked just the right sort of new for you. Maybe she'd laugh at it, you liked that thought. 

You hoped she liked canines too, since the little guy that was snuffling at your angles was a feeling you could get used to having around. 

 

Then the smile slid right off your face. 

It drooped at the corners first, eyes hardening a fraction as you drank in the unsavoury sight before your eyes. You'd been right about it being Jade, but the rest had been very unexpected. She was backed up against the wall, hunched over in a quivering slouch--inky tears running down her face, which bore a nasty, quickly forming bruise just under her right eye. The angry red and blue blooming across her round cheeks, which were stained with the tracks of her tears. She looked dreadful, and the sight of her in such a state tugged painfully at your chest. 

Something else tugged at the sight of the guys looming over her though. 

 The ink flowing through your--well you're pretty sure you didn't have veins or much of anything in the circulatory system department but whatever it flowed in boiled at the sight of the trio of the less than gentlemanly of natured men, standing dauntingly over Jade's small form. The ringleader of sorts of the group pinning her roughly against the hard brick behind her. Sneering dangerously as he pressed his face much too close for her comfort, which she was making clear she didn't feel in the slightest. In fact, very much the opposite, as she made a very small sounding whimpering noise as Mr. Creepy fuck number one startled slightly. Jolting like a spooked cat before turning to face whoever had dared interrupt them. Who just so happened to be you.

 You spoke up first. Forcing your rigid shoulders into a relaxed posture, smiling goodnaturedly, the corners of your lips feeling tight at the edges. You jauntily stepped into the gloom of the alley, the brightness and life of the streets behind you feeling worlds away. 

 

"Hey! Doll, look! I done good, I tell ya, I--hey, what's goin' on round here?" you greeted, keeping your tone measured and light. Though your eyes had turned hard and steely, and you relished in the small sigh of relief from Jade. Good. That meant you hadn't totally misread the situation.

"What's the story on these fine gentlemen ya keepin' company here huh?"

 The ringleader pushed himself up off his lazy stance over the 'toon he was harassing. Crackling the joints of his neck in an el macho display that would have almost been comical had he not been a very real and present threat. The mere sight of his unfriendly glare directed back and forth between you and Jade made something dark inside of you feel dangerously close to snapping. The mutt whined in protest, a growl rumbling deep in his throat at the conflicting scents mingling in the air. You could smell it too. Testosterone, and an invisible electricity tingling against skin, the unspoken defenition of hostility.

 The man stood his full height over you as though him being tall made all the difference. A domineering display of sorts, and rose his lankey arms in a gesture of mock surrender. Now his face was turning your way, you managed to actually make out his features from the shade, a sickly, pale complexion. Definitely a pretty boy type, but with eyes the colour of raw sewage, and a thin mouth stretched into a twisted grin better suited to a clown. Or a monster from one of the nastier of kid's bedtime stories, tousled red hair spilling locks over his sneering face. As though someone had just dumped the leftover of a dogs salon floor on the top of his head and called it a day. 

 "Hey--" he began. 

"Yeah I wasn't talkin' to you" you shamelessly interrupted, the smile on your face widening as you made a point of stepping forwards. Flitting your gaze behind Mr. Tall and not so chivalrous to Jade, who was frantically signing something that your eyes couldn't catch in time. Before the goon' goon shoved himself in forwards to block your line of sight. 

 If he'd been upset, he certainly didn't show it. Actually no, that was a lie- he looked furious. Already twisted excuse of a grin spreading into a grimace that was probably meant as something more threatening but didn't quite hit the note. You attempted to move again towards Jade, eyes never leaving his, only he was quick to block your path. Using his chest to shove you backwards, arms failing to catch anything to stop your fall. You seemed to be doing that an awful lot today. 

 "Well you're talking to me now, pal--sup with the fucking costume you freaky li--", and that was all you allowed out of his face before shoving the ball your foot hard up into his groin. 

 The posturing died out just like the words on his tongue, his voice skipping a few octaves up in pitch before he collapsed face-first onto you. Hands clutching his injured member as he howled in a misery you never wanted to understand for yourself. Being a toon had that perk at least, you had the advantage of being a... Less 'ballsy' guy, so to speak. 

  You easily rolled him off of you, sliding yourself out of the path of a-a bat that the hood-wearing thug had seemingly magically produced out of nowhere. Where the hell had he been hiding that thing?! You didn't stop to question it, though you suddenly felt awful for the dudes underwear lest his arse swallow them whole-ducking away from the swinging weapon before, in a ballsy move you didn't even know you had the guts for. You made a grab for it, ignoring the sting in your wrist as you pulled on it, and, by proxy, the swinger, forwards. Both of you yelped at the move, you more surprised by the sudden proximity to the guys face more than anything. 

"Who-whoa!" 

 With a sheepish grin, you swerved to his side, snarling at the hand that wrangled a solid grip at your upper arm, shaking loose only because the guy caught his foot against the still sobbing ringleader. After hopping to regain your balance, you whirled back around on your opponent. 

"Listen here buddo, this lady ain't on the menu here, now be a pal and hit the road, will ya?" 

 Or not. Lunging for your throat again was an option too. Albeit the more fun one. Not was more fun. Though it occurred to you that it might not be all that fun for poor Kit, she didn't seem up to the legwork. 

"Well jimmeny my crickets doll, you sure got yourself into a fine mess here, huh?" you quipped, whisking Jade from her place snivelling against the wall and pushing her ahead of you. Snatching her stick from the floor next to where her butt had just been planted. Ushering her through the back alley and into the next, hoping and praying that she didn't run into a dead end. Which she did. 

 You both skittered to a halt, the dog running smack into the pair of you like a giant pillow. Despite its size

"What now?" she signed, hands quivering too hard for you to make out anything more. You could still hear the bozo trio yelling somewhere close by. The nutcracker trio had all apparently recovered quickly, though you supposed that nickname would apply more to you than it would them after your stunt. The two aggressors of the bunch could be heard very angrily yelling at their friend for "sitting on his ass". As if the lot of em weren't sorry enough as it was. Assholes. 

 You where halfway through losing your mind--pacing animatedly back and forth on the spot and contemplating if you'd be able to kick all of their scrawny asses all together when a hand patted furiously at your shoulder. Spinning back around to find Jade, only she wasn't looking at you. She was staring at the behind of a dog disappearing behind a small hole in the high fence. Tail flickering out of vision just as you turned to see what was up. 

That furry bastard! Leaving when you're all up shit's creek without a fucking boat. Never mind the damn padd--wait. Wait hold on a diddly darn minute! That dog was a genius! 

The impatient, muffled bork through the wood was enough to get you moving again. 

You quickly pulled Jade to the opening, prying back the edge just enough to allow the Toon through, "Way ahead 'a' ya mutt, kit, c'mon shimmey through here, this guy's our ticket outta here"


	32. Meeting Alicia

The both of you were heaving after your little escape. More from the fading adrenaline than physical exhaustion, though the result left both your knees shaking like a newborn deer. Meanwhile, the dog that had, for some reason, been accompanying Bendy, was quite happily sitting between us. Tongue lolling from his mouth, which hung open wide, drool dripping from his lips, looking very pleased with himself. 

 Unfortunately, you could nit say the same for yourself. As, in your haste to get the Holy hell outta there, you'd somehow managed to uhh... Re-break your knee. Well, whatever healing it gad been doing over the past few days had been quickly un-done anyway--and by god it hurt. Mouth pressed into a thin line was you carefully eased yourself to the ground, whimpering pathetically as every small movement jarred your poor leg. Sending fresh needles of white-hot agony through your nerves as bone crackled and shifted beneath your skin. 

 Bendy didn't quite seem to notice this. Taking your whines as a sign or fear instead, and he was quick to rest a comforting hand on your shoulder. Squeezing slightly, before sinking to the floor himself. Though if the expression on his face was anything to go by, he seemed quite proud of himself. "Don't worry Kit, no way those bozo's'll get to us now, probably scratchin' their heads back in the alleyway" he chuckled, still notably breathless, but much more relaxed. Stretching luxuriously, a few satisfying pops and clicks cracking his spine, which he hummed at.

 "Boy, that sure was a nasty bunch though, how'd you even end up there anyhow?" he asked good nurturedly, only for his face to darken, before grinding out "they--they didn't hurt ya, did they?". Suddenly, his mirth had faded, and he was looking you over with a critical eye. Intent on inspecting you for injury, and the sudden attention made you fluster. Face heating up as your fumbled your hands to reply. 

 "They roughed me up a little, but you got involved before anything serious happened" you began, timidly. Signing on, "I'm honestly more shaken up than anything" with more confidence. He seemed to let out a hiss of hot air at that, still looking agitated, fingers drumming against his knees. 

 "Yeah well-- they're lucky I had ta get ya outta there. Shoulda mopped the street with em" he growled hotly. A surge of protectiveness flashing across his eyes, lingering there, before softening. Lazy grin spreading across his face again, and to be honest, it felt quite flattering to be on the receiving end of that fond gaze. It felt warm, like home. You were smiling even in spite of yourself, the relief of safety making you giddy, excitement bubbling in your stomach at the thought. Wow. What an adventure that had been. Scary, yes, but honestly, it was almost worth it for this very moment. 

 You couldn't deny that being protected to fiercely hadn't also felt pretty nice too. 

 Then you shifted, and the dull, pounding ache shot through your leg again. You grunted, alright, maybe not entirely worth it. You wouldn't be walking very well for a while yet it seemed, thank heck you'd brought Henry's cane. 

 Suddenly, you realized something.  "hey--you actually made it out!" you signed excitedly, watching a his ear splitting grin shrink. Looking bashful. "well done! That must've been scary, finding me like that, and all by yourself" you praised. Feeling guilty that you hadn't had the patience to stay with him. Though perhaps he'd needed you to be gone, either way, you were pleased. 

 It was this moment, the dog that you had been paying little attention to, chose to bound forwards. Large furry body slamming down on the little devil, who grunted at the animals weight, chuckling as it hung it's massive paws over his shoulders. Flashing you a smug look that you recognized as 'mine', apparently he had felt left out. 

 Bendy however seemed to find the animals actions hilarious. Letting out a loud guffaw from under the gentle giant, patting its side, budding affection growing in his sparkling black eyes. 

 Oh no. You had a funny feeling you'd be stopping by the pet store on the way back home. 

 "H-hehey buddy, not payin' ya enough attention huh?" he rumbled, and a loud bork was his only response. He barked out another laugh, before returning his attention to you. "Yeah, it was pretty uhh, yeah--but big fellah here helped out alright" he admitted a little quietly. A hand raising to rub at the back of his head. 

 Then, quite abruptly, he stood. Carefully pushing the dog aside, dusting the fur from his ruffled clothing. The white dress shirt looked a little grimy at this point, and was obviously too large for the demons small form. Though he seemed to have remedies the issue of his baggy sleeved by rolling them up his wrists, careful to keep his arms concealed, as they were much to thin to be human. Much like your own, though you had to admit that the clothes looked funny on him. It was a nice change, but he'd definitely need some more his size for the future. Maybe something less dressy too, seeing as you doubted he'd be able to explain away his appearance whilst wearing higher class attire. 

 After assuring one another you were both alright,you two slowly made your way back into the main street. With a dramatic flourish, Bendy flashing offered his arm towards to you, and you snickered noiselessly as you looped your with his. Both of you breathing a small sigh of relief at reaching the safety of the general public, though you noticed very quickly how stiffly Bendy had become. Back stuck at a rigid angle, and his arms tightening fractionally around your own, though his lazy smiled remained fixed on his face. He didn't seen to mind at all how slow your pace had been reduced to, but you could still feel his agitation at the crowd. Flinching against you whenever someone passed a little too close. 

 It was difficult to sign without access to your hands, one tightly wrapped around your cane, and the other held prisoner by the demons grip. You managed to wiggle your hand regardless though, making a simple up-and-down motion without withdrawing it from his. Before making something similar to a beckoning motion with your hand. 

 "What's up?" it said, though you hoped he understood your meaning. Since you didn't have the maneuverability to ask him if he was alright. 

 Luckily, he caught on, his grin disappearing. Lips pursing as his expression became pensive. "I'm better with you here, but uh, I'm not really used to all these fleshies, y'know?" he confessed. His voice becoming oddly smaller with each word. You frowned. Was he ashamed?

 Quickly, you opened your hand flat, palm facing downwards and pinched your thumb to your fingers, as if imitating an crocodile for a puppet show.

"I want to talk" 

 He flashed you an unsure frown m, but obliged, releasing you a little reluctantly, and gently taking the cane from your fingers. Your were leaning heavily on your good leg, and so far, he didn't seem to have noticed how stiffly your been keeping your bad one. The splint had split in the chase, but remained somewhat intact, which had helped ease the struggle, but It still hurt. A lot.

 "I know I don't have all the details" you began, watching carefully for the toons reactions, "but from what I've heard, you've had a very rough start. It's perfectly natural you'd be wary--all of this must be so new ans scary and exciting all rolled into one". 

 He seemed surprised, though at what, you didn't know. Still, it seemed to work, at least a little, as you'd hoped. His big, black eyes grew wide, a grateful sigh escaping through his toothy grin. Which suddenly seemed much more genuine. 

 It would have unnerved you. You'd seen how tense he was, but it was frightful how easily that phony smile had cane to him. It felt like a lie, and it made you shudder to think that, if he really wanted too, he'd probably be able to spin takes to you as easily as a hot knife slid through butter. Though you quickly shook the thought away. It was dreadful of you to think of him like that... Right? Sure, he'd k--hurt Henry, but he had abandoned him and Boris in that- in that place! Yes he was rough at times, but he'd been kind more often than not. 

 You sighed. You were just being a scared cat, as always. You had to have more faith--Bendy, he was all you had now. It was far from a friendship, but... You found yourself quickly succumbing to his endearing character.

 Though maybe that was just another way that you were a coward. 

 Your thoughts on the matter, however, were swiftly interrupted by the toon before you swooping you up into a tight embrace. Twirling you around at a dizzying speed. You were so surprised in fact, at the sudden attention, that you barely even felt the twang of your injured nerves. Though you certainly did once he settled you down. Wobbling on the spot as the world spun around you as if you were on a merry-go-round. 

 He didn't give you much opportunity to recover though. As at the exact moment you stopped swirling, you felt an insistent tug at your hand, and was soon being dragged off into the street. 

_______

Having Jade with you made a very big difference, you noticed. The crowd seemed less daunting, the open space less intimidating. Though the place seemed both suffocatingly packed and spacious all at once. It was strange, but the unusual calm definitely wasn't unwelcome. Even so, you found yourself clinging stubbornly to Jade, just in case, your hand always plastered to some part of her. Unwilling to risk losing that source of relief. 

 It also helped that you still felt pretty damn proud of yourself. The victorious smirk struggling to wipe itself from your face,but dammit if it didn't feel good to know. 

 You'd rescued a real 'damsel in distress'. You snickered softly to yourself at the thought. Slowing your pace to accommodate hers, who'd seemed to have slowed considerably. Was it your imagination that she was limping a lot more than she had been that morning? 

Then again. She hadn't said anything. You figured if there really was something wrong, she'd have had the sense to speak up. 

 You'd allowed her to take the lead, shortly after realizing you didn't know left from right around here. Eagerly trailing after her as she tugged you along. A tight grasp on her sleeve as you both twisted and wound through the crowd. Listening to the soft clacking of her cane against the cobblestone pavement. A wet muzzle occasionally snuffling at your heels. 

 Really, you were just trying to ignore the staring. 

 Your, admittedly, louder entrance hadn't quite helped matters, but people had definitely taken notice of the two of you. Though, strangely, after an odd up and down of you, their curiosity seemed to abate once they spotted Jade. Not like before, when you had been alone. Sure, they'd left you be, but it was almost... As if, they were now just writing it off? You couldn't quite read their expressions, in the sea of faces. Only, it felt different. It felt... Less like you were some kind of exhibition act. Now more like an unfamiliar face that was mildly interesting, something to grab your attention for a few seconds, before resuming as normal.

 Without a shadow of a doubt, it was a big improvement. Though you still felt wary. No, that wouldn't be shaken so easily. 

 Occasionally, as you two walked through the marketplaces. Stalls becoming thicker the deeper you went, you'd suddenly pull at the hem of Jade's sleeve. Shooting her something short of an apologetic look, before engrossing yourself in examining the various wares on display. She seemed amused, but you could sense something reminiscent of impatience in her grip. Though you reasoned she was probably just sore from standing for so long. Oh, and uh, the whole 'almost getting mugged' thing too. That probably didn't help her mood. Nevertheless, she complied patiently without fail. Even going so far as to indulge you with a few knick knacks you'd become infatuated over without batting an eye. Ignoring your embarrassed protests in a smug display that she rarely showed. 

 Though, the unmistakable twinkling in her eyes as she pressed the bag into your hands could have melted your heart. 

 She was so kind. So...pure. It almost--almost made you feel... Like a person. Not like the thing you'd been created to be. 

 Honestly? It felt peaceful. 

It wasn't long before you finally made it to the, what was it called again? Supermarket? Yeah! That was it!and boy did it live up to its name. 

 Although maybe not as charming as the vendors at your backs, it dwarfed them in comparison. The place was large, and modern looking. Though it still managed to feel somewhat welcoming, even in spite of its dominating size. Bright, with classy (but cheap) marble-tiled flooring. The entrance decorated with a large flower display at its front, leaving a wide open space, before sectioning off into a wide array of aisles, full to the brim with clearly labeled stock. Shelves neatly stacked in orderly rows, with large, bright green signs hanging over each aisle, conveniently labeling each one by what they held. 

 It was an impressive sight to behold. You couldn't wait to explore it all, but you didn't think that was even possible to do in one single day! There were so many things, some recognizable, like the pre-made sandwiches and other foodstuffs held in aisles that were cold enough to pass as a freezer. To other things like--well, just about everything else. Once again, it dawned on you. How little you'd seen of the world.

 Instead of dampening your mood, however, it only fueled your excitement. You were seeing it _now_ , and that was the important part. Besides, that meant there was a ton more for you to discover! 

 You faintly noticed that there was chipper pop music playing just under the general chatter. Spotting speakers pumping sound throughout the entire building. It was at that moment, you felt something cold, and metallic press lightly against your spine,and you realized that your fingers were noticeably Jade-free. 

 Pivoting on your heel, heart hammering with overwhelming panic. You slumped at the sight of her, smiling toothily at you, a strange contraptions handles in her hands. Cane hung on one side, squeaking wheels groaning a little as she nudged it into your belly. You shivered at the chill that pressed through the thin fabric of your shirt. Huffing out a chuckle as you shook you head, eyes still trained on the strange object. It was like a giant basket, only on wheels. 

 "Sorry, Ma'am? I'm afraid pets are prohibited within the store, would you please kindly leave the dog outside?" a woman's voice politely interrupted from behind you. You flinched, but coolly turned, discreetly taking a step or five back. Though her gaze glided over you briefly, her eyes lit up with recognition when they landed on Jade. Customer-service facade ebbing away slightly, as she regarded the toon with a friendly, yet slightly bashful grin. 

 "Ah, s-sorry Shadey, I didn't notice it was you I wasn't really paying, attentio-" she began, freezing and shaking her head at the disapproving frown that Jade shot her. "-Sorry, sorry, Jade, Henry just calls you by that name so much it just slipped out" she remedied, before turning back to the mutt, who was sat loyally at your feet. The stranger apparently content to ignore your presence for the time being. "I know how much you hate that name" she added, with a sympathetic frown. 

 Upon the stranger correcting herself, jade's unhappy expression had almost instantly melted away. Leaving her beaming at the woman, hands lifting from the handles to sign in motions to quick you could barely keep up. You'd never noticed how quickly those hands could go. Had she been slowing herself down this entire time? 

 Even in spite of her impressive speed, the woman appeared completely unfazed. Eyes darting back over to you at one point, lips pursed in contemplation as she nodded along with whatever jade was saying. 

 "Huh" she hummed, tilting her hips to one side, drawing her long arms around her waist. Something in her demeanor shifting. Her attention now completely focused on you, and you felt beads of sweat running down you back at the attention. What had she said? More importantly-- what were _you_ supposed to say? As if anticipating this, you felt a tap on you shoulder, a pair reassuring eyes boring into your own. Signing carefully, positioning herself directly before you. Almost as if to keep her hands out of her line of sight. 

 "I told her you're a visiting friend of Henry's" she said, fingers dancing in a flurry of movements your eyes had trouble following, but they did. You grimaced at her words, and at their implications, but you gave the slightest nod in return. You understood. Act the part. Henry's friend. At one point, you thought you had been.

 Your own discomfort was visibly matched by Jade's, but it quickly faded. Spinning you around to face the stranger, who was watching with an unreadable expression. 

 "A pal of Henry's hmm?" she mumbled to herself. Sticking a hand out towards you, with an air of cold professionalism that didn't match the warmth she'd displayed to the toon beside you. You almost gulped, something about this woman--it was strong. Commanding, and a no-nonsense to be tolerated kind of lady. "Well, I'm Alicia, I must say, it's a pleasure to meet you--sorry, what was your name again?"

You cringed as your voice cracked. "Bendy, m'name's Bendy".

 She made another face. Again, unreadable, "Bendy? Like from that cartoon Jade likes?" she questioned. Though before you could respond, she burst into very loud, hysterical laughter. Clutching her sides as she wheezed through the laughing fit. You looked to Jade for explanation, but she shrugged, looking just as baffled as you felt. 

"t-that's priceless--sorry, sorry, don't mind me" Alicia snickered, waving a dismissive hand in front of her face. Meanwhile, all you could concentrate on was the thought that this woman was getting freakier by the minute. 

 "You two must be pretty good pals, what for Jade to come out with you and all, poor dear hardly leaves the house" Alicia mythered with a playful twinkle in her eye. Acting as though she _hadn't_ just spontaneously burst into hysterics for no reason. Moving over to sling her arms over Jade in an embrace, pushing their cheeks together as she pouted her lips grumpily. the toon entwined in her arms patting her arm apologetically. She continued still, simpering with teasing puppy dog eyes, "It's not fair y'know, I hardly ever get to see youuuu. I blame that old coot for keeping you all locked away all the time", only to yeep as Jade hotly clipped her upside the head. Giggling at the cross toon glowering up at her. 

  "shy baby, even when I try to invite her out for coffee she barely ever agrees. y'know how hard it is to get a nice place around here that isn't always packed to the brim?", it took a moment for you to realize that it was you who that comment had been directed at. Quickly nodding in agreement, hoping to appease the strange woman as you prayed for her to leave you both be. Something about the familiarity between the two women felt threatening. Almost as if... She was in danger of being stolen away. 

 Thankfully, it was this moment, a small device clipped to her shoulder crackled with static. After a moment of muffled conversation, Alicia leaning into listen, murmuring in faint agreement, she straightened. Giving Jade a cheeky wink, waving as she turned. Apparently in a hurry. "I gotta go--I'll see you 'round! The dog still needs to get gone though, bye~" she trilled, before vanishing behind a large stack of jars of what looked like preserved fruits. 

 "... That was... An interesting experience" you managed. Picking at your gloves uncomfortably, not quite knowing how to feel about that whole interaction. Jade simply shrugged, offering a breathy nervous laugh, as she patted her knee (her less broken one of course) for the dog to follow. Grumbling soundlessly as the mutt pointedly ignored her, huffing a loud breath through its muzzle. 

_______

 Thankfully, Bendy had taken it upon himself to take the canine outside. Though you still felt sour at how quick the stupid fluffball had been to obey. Almost as if it was intentionally trying to mess with you. Hmph! You'd show that stupid doggy--you'd! Y-you'd--do something. You weren't sure what yet, but you'd figure it out! And when you did, ahaha, that poor doggy would be so very sorry,you thought. As you plucked a large package of dog biscuits from the pet section shelf. 

 You'd left Bendy, reluctantly, to himself, back in the clothing section. After briefly explaining how to pick out clothing sizes, and to maybe stick to the men's section if he could help it. Men's clothing tended to be cheaper, and with the new dog, you were spending a lot more than you'd first anticipated. Though you still had an inkling that maybe women's clothing would fit his slim figure much better. 

 Oh well, if push comes to shove, you could always alter whatever he ended up with yourself. You know you had a sewing kit somewhere. Emphasis on _somewhere_. 

 Though, after a long while meandering about. Having ticked off the last item on your grocery list, you where quickly struck by the realization that Bendy had been missing for a long time now. It was a large store, but certainly not that large that he wouldn't have sought you out by now. Worried, you found yourself wandering back to where you'd last seen him. Browsing a cluster of jeans. 

 The squeaking of the trolley was about all that you could focus on in the hustle and bustle. You'd never been fond of wandering places alone, but you wanted to get off your poor leg as soon as possible. With the trolley quickly becoming heavier by the minute, it soon outweighed the advantage of its extra support. You were in agony, every twitch sending a hot scorching blaze through your bones. 

 You really needed a rest. 

 You searched the whole clothing section about twice over before you heard it. 

 " _pssst!_ " 

 You paused. Searching around for the noise that you weren't fully convinced you'd actually heard. Then you heard it again. 

 " _PSSSST!_ " it repeated, this time, sounding more desperate, and you turned to its source. Frowning at what you found. 

 Bendy was there, that much you had guessed. Only he was peeking out from a curtain, one of the changing room booth's. An expression of something in between shame and pleading twisting his usually plastered-on grin. Eyes scrunched together as he stuck out a hand, beckoning you closer. You obliged, an odd sensation of foreboding at your back. 

 At your questioning look, he sighed. Mulling something over in his brain, before bluntly stating, "I'm--I'm uhh, stuck?", though it ended more like a question. 

 You shook your head, moving to walk away. 

 "Nononono w-wait Kit! I'm not kiddin' 'round here" he almost yelled, bushing himself at the last second. Sighing in obvious relief when your shoulders slumped in defeat, settling the trolley cart to the side, before approaching him. Not quite liking where this was going. 

 "So, what do you want me to do about that?" you asked, already regretting it. 

"help me" 

"how?" 

"get in here, just need ya to--" 

You flushed beet red, hands fumbling in the air as you tried frantically to form words. Instead only managing to flail your limbs out in a solid gesture of **"fuck no!".**  

"c'mon Kit, I really need a hand here, pretty please? I ain't naked or anythin' don't worry none about catchin' an eyeful" he pleaded. Only for his expression to turn sly, grin widening and eyebrows wiggling suggestively. "unless o' course you were _hoping_ ta-- _oof!_ " his sentence was abruptly cut off by you pushing him back into the booth. Landing with a muffled _thud_ as you stormed furiously in after him, snapping the curtains shut after you, blatantly ignoring his hearty laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened! Ooo what could tge next chapter possibly bring~? Stay tuned to find out!  
> I hope you enjoyed reading, and please do leave a comment or a kudos if you enjoyed!  
> 'Till next time~


	33. Self-doubt On Both Sides

 "I smell something" you suddenly declared. Stopping dead, feeling a soft form walk smack into your back. You were pretty weighed down, arms completely loaded and laid down with plastic bags. Bags that had been promptly shoved into you arms by a particularly grumpy and appropriately beet red Jade. Who still wasn't all too happy about finding you tangled up in a mess of sleeves and buttons on the floor of the customer changing rooms. Half naked too. 

 What she was most upset about though, was probably the... Maybe just a little excessive teasing. You'd subjected her to. Yeah, that probably hadn't scored you any brownie points with her. 

 You hadn't been in the most graceful position when those curtains had parted. She'd practically flown inside, face tight and cheeks glowing an impressive shade of neon red. She'd seemed very determined to keep her eyes everywhere but where you were, the problem there being that she needed to actually _see_ where her hands were in order to assist you. Which had led to her hands wandering in a few unorthodox places, much to her dismay, and your... Well. You didn't really know. You weren't exactly happy about it, but the mild discomfort was more than worth the look of pure humiliation in the poor toons eyes. You didn't even need to hear that small sounding squeak or the ashamed look on her face to figure out--she was _mortified_. 

 Maybe it was a bit cruel of you to take full advantage of that. 

 "Well now Kit--never took ya as one to cop a feel", she visibly flustered, "my I'm real sorry doll but--I'm not that kinda demon sweets". It was actually impressive how far Jade managed to push herself away as fast as she did. You'd barely blinked and she was plastered far into the furthest corner of the cramped room. Arms pushed up against the walls, trying to dig her back further into the solid wood behind her. You imagined if she could've, she'd have been spluttering apologies and firm denials of any wrongdoings. Which, for the record, you knew she wasn't guilty of. 

 It was just way too funny to simply let slide. 

 So it was hardly a surprise when you'd been relieved from your compromising position, she'd (fairly enough) saddled you with the mass majority of the days shopping. You found it hard to complain, especially once you'd noticed her limp seemed much more pronounced as the day wore on. It made sense, with all that running and walking she'd been doing today, her leg must've been really sore. 

You pointedly ignored the stabbing guilt at the back of your throat at that.

 Instead, you turned, facing the toon behind you as her eyes wandered to the small cafe just a stones throw away from the both of you. It was brightly colored, even if the colours themselves weren't all that exciting. Prettily painted borders of varying shades of beige and cream in a patchwork pattern. With rosy colored daisies dotted around the corners. All framing a very large, crystal clear looking display window. 

 You could see that Jade was conflicted by the sight. Fighting the very evident want to ignore your whims as petty revenge with her own desires of tasty treats, and most likely a nice rest along the way too. 

 She hesitated for a further few minutes. Shifting her body weight back and forth between her cane and her good leg, thumb poking small holes into the plastic bags handles. Then suddenly, her dithering stopped altogether, and she began begrudgingly marching forwards, towards the intoxicating scent of sweet things and rich fruit sauces. 

 You tried desperately to trample the triumphant smirk that spread across your cheeks. Though you didn't really end up accomplishing more than making your smirk look more like a painfully tight grimace. Not the effect you had in mind but you supposed it was better than looking like the cat that got the cream. Which was in and of itself kinda ironic since that, along with many other goodies seemed to be in the very near future menu. 

 You eagerly followed after her, only stopping when you both reached the counter, and Jade paused to browse the impressive list of treats. Holding up the laminated sheet for you to see as well as she did so, and you noticed she spent quite a while lingering the more bitter tasting options. Emitting frequent, pleased sounding hums as she carefully noted the helpful descriptions written under each provided photographed example. It was oddly amusing to watch the smaller toon browse the list of sweets, so much so you yourself found your eyes darting back to glance at her face as she considered her options. The strange seriousness she seemed to approach the choice with, lips pursed as though trying to make sense of some complicated puzzle. 

 Eventually, she seemed to come to a decision, and after glancing up at you to confirm you had made your own too she easily shoved you forwards, bluntly pointing at her desired delicacy and and jabbing a thumb towards the startled clerk. Shoving a battered wallet to your chest, which you clumsily caught with the tips of your scrambling fingers, dropping all of the bags in the process of course, before shuffling over to a small table. Secluded and tucked away in a corner, a little ways away from the other few patrons, watching curiously from above the rims of delicate china. 

 "Good afternoon Sir, would you like to order?" 

 Oh, right, it made sense that she'd leave you to take care of your orders. She couldn't speak herself, and you guessed that not every person walking about the street could understand her signings. At that thought, it made you quite glad you could understand her, that you were there. You wondered, how lonely that quiet world of hers must have been. Even with Henry, and--that woman from the store, it didn't seem like there were many people that Jade could communicate easily with. And that made you sad, it made her choice of seating seem even sadder, a life spent closed off from people surrounding her, close enough to touch, but still unable to reach out. 

 You wondered if she had spent her whole life so far, wondering if she'd spend the rest of it without anyone ever understanding her. 

 "S-sir?" a female voice insisted, snapping you out of a trance you'd had no idea you'd fallen into. Well, you supposed that's what made it a trance. But apparently you been staring at the counter in front of you, with a blank, gormless expression. You remedied that quickly, slapping on a pleasant grin as you shook yourself to attention. Eyes coming to focus on a face you had trouble still focusing on. 

 You faintly noted that whoever you were talking to was blonde. 

 After ordering, and paying with minimal difficulty, you carefully collected the fallen bags strewn around your feet. Setting them back down under the the table, taking care to avoid Jade's bad leg. 

 She still refused to look at you as you took your seat. Silently fuming in place, set jaw and everything. As far as being in the doghouse went, at least you hadn't been left to sit outside. You could feel that mutts eyes burning holes in the back of your neck, the furry giant sat with his wet nose right against the glass. Staring right through the small cluster of customers to focus on you, with a forlorn, betrayed expression on his face. Well, about as expressive as a dog could be. Either way he didn't look too happy. It was like being sandwiched between two very grumpy people, both of which who's wrath was solely directed at you.

 A soft rap at your forearm stole your gaze from the grouchy canine, and your eyes flickered towards the movement in your peripheral vision. Just catching the toon sitting patiently across from you withdraw her hand, back into the fold, elbows resting on the smooth counter top. The somewhat thick padding of her sleeves offering some amount of cushioning, allowing her to snuggle into a small mound in her seat. Top half of her body partially sprawled across the table, though the warning glare she shot in your direction killed the words right on your tongue. Before you could even opened your mouth too, as if she had some sixth sense that you were about to bother her, and immediately made sure to cut you down before you acted on it. 

 With a huff of air, Jade untangled her arms. Straightening in her chair, eyes never leaving yours as she lay one hand flat out, making a short, sharp chopping motion into her palm with the other. 

 "Stop". 

 You frowned, slouching forwards and mimicking her posture. Slinking across the tabletop until your forearms met with her elbows. 

 "Sorry, Kit, you're really not in the mood today, huh?" 

A nod, and you blew out a sigh. The hot air softly blowing over her face, and she wearily scrunched her eyes shut against the offending breeze. Opening them slowly, though the harness in them was gone, and she rewarded your apology with a quiet, happy hum. Lazily moving a hand from under her chin to pat your hand, "guess I'm pretty on edge myself, still not all that used to the world bein' all... Big 'n' stuff". 

 Well uh, that certainly caught her attention. Suddenly her eyes were... Well more alert than they were, stark contrast to their hazy appearance a moment ago. She seemed to nudge at you, prod with her eyes alone, all big and round. She reminded you of those puppy-dog eyes that goody-two-shoes feather face back in the studio, only not sickening to look at and more... Innocent. You'd even go as far to say that she looked almost cute-like, it was nice. Like a breath of fresh air. 

 It was comforting to know you had such a--gentle friend. And that's when it clicked. She was your friend. She really was. You really did have someone, after all. Even though you'd told yourself you were pals before, it felt more like you'd just been telling yourself that. Yeah, you didn't know all that much about her still, that was a truth that went both ways, but--now. Now it felt real.

All of a sudden. The world. How huge it was. It felt just a tiny bit less scary. 

Just a tiny bit. 

 "Excuse me, I have your orders here", you both withdrew from your respective places on the table, though the stranger barely waited for your hands to be clear before a plate was set down in front of you. Silverware followed shortly after, clattering to the table loudly, striking against the quiet room. 

 You heard someone make a noise of complaint, just short of a whine. The retreating back of the friendly happy service--or waitress? Waiter? Whatever the heck they were called, they left in a hurry, and you caught a glimpse of them as they fled for what your presumed to be the kitchen. Along with a frustrated looking middle aged brunette chasing right after them, waving their arms about in a round of frustrated, hushed yell-whispering. The subject of their fury didn't look like they took much notice. 

 Shrugging, you turned to focus the much more enticing centerpiece in front of you. It looked like something straight out of one of Jade's recipe books. A fluffy, soft looking slice of deep chocolate brown cake. Topped with a velvety orange tinted ganache, and generously piped chantilly cream. It smelled just as good as it looked too, and that was saying something cuz just looking at it made your mouth water. 

You tore into it without hesitation. 

 There was no conversation as the two of you ate. With Jade's hands busy with holding her cutlery, there was no way for her to speak, and you felt to need to fill the quiet. So you didn't, just letting a companionable silence fill the space between the two of you. 

 Finally, though, Jade finished. As, regretfully, had you, and Jade had to wave a hand in front of your face. To distract you from your head thinking through your stomach, and a newly discovered appetite that you'd never expected you'd have. 

 She looked happier now that she'd eaten. Traces of slightly burned caramel being the only sign of the pudding that had sat on her plate just a while before. The conflicting scent of sweet and not so much had put you off the thing immediately, but she seemed to relish the flavors that--although looked to be as different as chalk 'n' cheese, apparently went well together. 

 "That was good, we'll have to come again one day" she declared. Setting her cutlery down neatly on her empty plate, setting it aside, but making no move to leave. You nodded eagerly in agreement.

"Mmm-mm, never knew that eating could be so ful- _filling_ " you quipped. Winking mischievously as you propped yourself up, cheek in hand, with an elbow set against the table. 

 "You didn't eat before in the studio?" Jade asked. whether the pun registered or went right over her head being up for debate, her face curious and without a hint of much else. You shook your head, mind being thrown back to the times you'd watched the humans munching on their lunches, both in and around that break room of theirs. Oftentimes remaining seated at their desks, working as they ate, usually with simple lunches that they could eat without utilizing both hands. 

 "Nah, never really got the chance, since we didn't need to nobody thought ta offer. Didn't think much of it, didn't need it, but I'll admit my interest was certainly piqued" you admitted. It was true too. You hadn't really minded, at least not at the time. Now you felt more than a little cheated at the thought that you'd missed out on something else so... Good in life. Then again, there wasn't much about the whole situation that _had_ been right, had there? 

 A thoughtful look graced Jade's features for a moment, before her hands began to move, but the movements were timid. And she looked as though she regretted asking just as soon as she started. "Can... Can I ask what it was like there?" 

 You flinched. 

 "Their were better times right? You said so yourself, what were they like?" she insisted, hands quivering slightly as she spoke. She looked unsure, but somehow it felt like she was clinging to the idea just the same. 

 You didn't want to think about it. 

... But. 

 Jade looked quite surprised when your hands moved. Signing in clumsily placed gestures that must have looked so inelegant compared to her very well practiced speech. But the act of translating the thoughts so physical movement in your head before you spoke, eyes trained on your own hands. It helped, somehow. 

 "I remember, back when the studio was younger, when I was, it was pretty lighthearted there" you began. Casting your mind back into the days that didn't hold the darkness of the years that followed afterwards. Though were no less tainted. 

 "Maybe it was because the show was doing the same well, and... And Drew, he hadn't quite gotten all that wound up about us--me and Boris, and Alice. Sure he was excited but, he fawned over us a bit, but it wasn't... Bad".

 You swallowed thickly. Remembering the times, before Joey had become dark. When he'd simply just been another friend, drawn in the miracle of creating life where it shouldn't've been. Before he'd become obsessed with his creations, and before the darker aspects of keeping them 'safe', and keeping them close, had taken over anything happy away from his wants. 

 "Really, at the start, it felt like everyone was a huge family. Like everyone was just as much as the silly cartoons we all worked on". 

You smiled, sad, and mourning. You barely even felt it forming on your face, but you kept your hands moving. "Like clockwork, all the stupid, silly daily arguments and how everyone would become all zombie like with the ritualistic deadlines. How Boris would always keep that Sammy guy from tearing my head off for messing up his papers". 

 That had been one of your favourite pass times. Antagonizing Sammy, the guy had a serious perfectionist complex, and always complained about his talents being wasted on a stupid children's cartoon. Nevertheless, he'd always work so hard to produce excellent quality music, even if it would've just gone unnoticed in the background, the audiences eyes focused on you and your friends. He was a proud, hot aired asshole, but somehow, that'd just tied the whole family dynamic down all the more. It just fit, slotted right in to perfect that weird unseen puzzle. 

 Boris was probably the sole reason that, that same narcissistic twit hadn't torn you to shreds on day one of your merciless pranking spree. The gentle wolf always did have a way of... Getting people to stop. To think. He was the mediator between a lot of situations that otherwise would've ended pretty damn sourly. A talent that you sometimes stretched too far, even with the wolf himself. You'd both had your fair share of arguments between the two of you. Most of them you'd admit you'd been responsible for

 "I didn't get along well with Alice all the time. You know Alice, right? The angel? Yeah she was such a right goody-goody, learned pretty quickly to steer clear of _her_ when I was stewing up something a little troublesome" you scoffed, and you heard a soft snicker from Jade. And you felt your grin widen, ever so slightly. 

 Yeah. You remembered her tattling alright. Always, without fail, once that lady caught anyone red handed. It would always be straight to Joey. Or Susie. 

Or Henry. 

 Now. That man. He was a... Special puzzle pieces in that place. He'd taken up a role that had greatly surpassed Joey's, something that over time, had greatly niggled away at their relationship. As much as you'd tried to ignore it. And had very much put strain on the two of them. An unhidden resentment brewing, completely one sided of course. 

 See, Henry had once been the--almost father figure for all of the studio's inhabitants. Before Joey, and that never really seemed to settle well with the the man. Who'd been mostly responsible for giving life to the whole place. You included. And he'd seethed at that thought. But nevertheless, Henry had always endured that, which had been something you and everyone else had counted on when Drew began turning towards a more... Menacing way of life. 

 Which only made his abandonment all the more crushing. 

 "Henry turned into a pretty important person to everyone during his time there, I think Joey was glad for him for a while" you finished. You couldn't talk anymore, no, you didn't want to. 

 Then Jade said something that surprised you a little. "That's a little odd", she said. A contemplative look on her face.

 "What do ya mean?" you asked aloud. Making a few of the people sitting nearby jump, before they resumed their conversations. 

 Jade hesitated a bit, before continuing, "It's just that--I remember that Henry, he used to talk sometimes, about a person that didn't get along with him. He didn't go much into detail but, from what he said, the man in charge never took to him at all" 

 You shook your head. Disagreement evident on your face. "Nah, they got along fine, for a while anyway. Must've been someone else". 

 "Was someone else in charge then?" 

"Joey ran the whole show Kit, nobody else came close to that, except maybe Henry 'imself" 

 "Well I stand by what I remember Henry saying. I-I don't think he was lying".

You said nothing. 

 "... I... Do you think, maybe--maybe Henry didn't really leave you alone. Maybe it was a really bad misunderstanding?" 

 **"Absolutely _not_ "** you spat out the words as though there was acid on your tongue. Vehemently denying the idea, so much so that Jade actually shrank back at your voice. You would have felt bad about it if you hadn't been so... Disgusted with the thought. "Besides. Nothing good can come of getting involved with the creators. Nothing has before and nothing ever _will_ __".

"Think what you will. But I am standing by what I said, somebody really hated him. Really, a-and maybe Henry did leave, but maybe you don't have the full story, maybe I don't--I just..."

 The anger in your eyes met the sadness in hers. And you faltered. Even despite yourself. 

"I don't want to believe that my family would do something so cruel. Not on purpose". 

 Neither of you spoke again after that. This time, the silence between you was nothing close to comfortable. It was tense, and it was... Frustrated. On both sides. You were sure. 

You swallowed thickly. Stooping in your seat to retrieve the bags, as Jade took the cue to push herself to her feet. Shoulders drooping, something close to disparity clinging to her frame. 

 

 You could understand her desperation to cling to the hope that her family was truly just an innocent party. In a complicated, unfortunate situation. But you knew better. You knew, you knew. He'd left. He'd chosen to walk right out that door and never return, to leave you at the insane man's mercy. Mercy that failed in face of his ultimate quest. A quest that only made a lick of sense to the madman himself, that had caused him to throw away his small happiness, in quest of something larger. 

It frightened you. 

It really, really did. To admit. The gaps in your memory, filled with memories of screams and suffering. The parts of your life that you couldn't recall anymore, like they'd been blocked from your brain completely. You didn't want her to know, that honestly... You didn't even know what had been done. Just that something had been done. Something beyond awful--hell Boris' sorry corpse had been proof enough. Y-yeah--you were definitely right. Joey was responsible for... Unspeakable evils, and Henry had been the one to leave him to it. 

 _You knew._  

D-didn't you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this begs the question--if our dancing demon here doesn't know what the heck happened. Exactly how credible is his information in the first place? And what could have happened that was so terrible, that he can't bring himself to remember?  
>  Thanks for reading, and I do hope you enjoyed. If you did, why not leave a comment? Or even a kudos?  
>  Till next time~


End file.
